The $16 million project would yield more than 250 jobs and up to $590,000 a year in property taxes, officials said.
HOLYOKE – Mostly positive comments at a public hearing Tuesday greeted a proposal to put a Big Y supermarket at the former Atlas Copco factory in a project that would bring 250 jobs.
“The people we work with are very much in need of work,” said Larry Bay, executive director of HolyokeWorks, which helps people find jobs and education.
“They are a responsible corporate family,” Richard P. Purcell, of 99 Martin St., said of Big Y.
The Planning Board later voted unanimously to recommend that a zone change, which was the subject of the hearing at City Hall, be granted after the 75-minute hearing, said Kathleen G. Anderson, director of the city Office of Planning and Development.
Big Y would anchor a small retail plaza with other stores at Lower Westfield Road and Homestead Avenue.
The $16 million project would yield more than 250 jobs, including 150 to 175 jobs at Big Y.
Officials said 38 to 44 of the Big Y jobs would be full time. Other retail stores yet to be chosen would yield about 100 jobs, officials said.
The project also would net the city $520,000 to $590,000 a year in property taxes, up from the $100,000 the site now generates, said Francesca Maltese, development manager for O’Connell Development Group, which owns the site. Some tenants now lease space there.
O’Connell Development, of Holyoke, wants a zone change from the current Industrial Park to General Industry, which would permit a supermarket.
The Planning Board’s recommendation on the zone change request goes to the City Council Ordinance Committee.
The Ordinance Committee’s recommendation will go to the full City Council, which has final authority whether to grant zone changes.
Concerns were raised about adding to traffic in an already busy area down the road from the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside.
Edward G. Miles, of Lower Westfield Road, said another concern is whether delivery trucks will make noise if they arrive and leave at night.
Truck deliveries and other issues can be addressed during the site plan review process if the zone change is granted and the project proceeds, Anderson said.
Katherine Smith, of Homestead Avenue, questioned how officials can make a decision on the project before a fully detailed plan has been submitted.
“I’m still not seeing an actual plan,” Smith said.
Ordinance Committee Chairman Diosdado Lopez and other officials said the process is that a developer will file a detailed site plan only if a zone change request is granted, because without the zone change, it makes no sense to compile and pay for such a plan.
Steve Corrigan and Robert W. Gilbert Jr., of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and the group Grow Holyoke, and School Committee member Michael J. Moriarty were among those praising the project for the jobs and tax revenue.
“We’re looking at this development as an ideal opportunity for more jobs and tax revenue,” Corrigan said.
“We need the jobs, we need the tax revenue,” Gilbert said.
“We don’t have enough money from our real estate taxes to pay for our teachers payroll, let alone the rest of the services,” Moriarty said.
The project is set to open in late 2012 or early 2013, Maltese said.
The various O’Connell properties pay nearly $2 million a year in property taxes, she said.
“We look forward to the opportunity to generate more tax revenue for the city,” Maltese said.
Big Y has 61 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut with more than 10,000 employees.
The late Gerald E. “Gerry” and Paul H. D’Amour founded Big Y in 1936. The company is this year marking its 75th anniversary in business.