TURNERS FALLS — The southern corridor of Avenue A has been targeted by the Montague Planning and Conservation Department as the next area with potential for redevelopment, but also as an area at risk of falling into disrepair.
The area now being called the “southern corridor” runs from Avenue A’s intersection with 11th Street, past the fork in the road that branches into Montague City Road, and into the more secluded part of Avenue A that houses industrial buildings used by the town Department of Public Works and the Montague Machine Co.
Technically, the southern corridor is zoned mostly for industrial use. But in recent years, consumer-facing businesses have also become active in the area — like Brick & Feather Brewery and the musical instrument store Replay — and the canalside bike path has made the area popular for recreation.
Meanwhile, there are at least three large properties in the southern corridor identified by the Planning and Conservation Department as soon-to-be development opportunities. New development at any one of those — or a failure to redevelop — would likely influence the trajectory of the whole area, said Town Planner Walter Ramsey.
Based on a public forum in February, residents seem to favor orienting the southern corridor as a “makers’ district” — an area to support industrial uses as well as art studios and consumer-facing businesses — rather than encouraging housing developments, Ramsey said.
“There are so few areas for that specific use,” he said. “It’s important to keep specific areas for commercial industrial activity in the downtown. Not everything can be converted into housing.”
The town can’t control private development, but it can encourage certain directions. The first way is to rezone parts of the southern corridor, which the Planning Board expects to consider soon, Ramsey said.
Beyond zoning, the town’s involvement will mostly be a matter of pursuing grant funding to support the community’s preferences, and of coordinating with potential developers.
The soonest development opportunity in the southern corridor is probably the Public Works building. The department is set to move into a new building near the intersection of Turners Falls Road and Turnpike Road this summer, leaving the Avenue A building to be sold by the town. Ramsey said the town expects to start soliciting the building to developers this summer.
The other two properties seen as development opportunities have less direct involvement of the town. One is 77 11th St., a privately owned property at the corner of Avenue A and 11th Street that is used more or less as a parking lot. Because the lot is flat and open, Ramsey said the Planning and Conservation Department identifies it as one of the last developable properties in Turners Falls, and the owner is interested in selling.
The other is Montague Machine’s property, which the company does not entirely use, Ramsey said. Some parts of the building are in need of repair, and so the town has been working with the owners to prevent it from becoming unusable and to support potential development.
“Our ultimate goal as a town is to prevent that property from becoming a blight, from becoming the next railroad salvage,” Ramsey said. “We’re trying to break the cycle of properties falling into disrepair and owners walking away from them.”
In both cases, the town doesn’t want to take ownership of the properties, Ramsey said, but would support projects through zoning and state funding opportunities, and by connecting interested developers with the owners.
But considering the likely economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Ramsey said, any new development, even the sale of the Public Works building, now seems less certain, and maybe further away, than it did when the town sought community input just three months ago.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com
or 413-930-4231.