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Baystate Health to absorb Mercy Medical Center Mercy Medical Center, which has been affiliated with Trinity Health of New England for more than a decade, is slated to become Baystate Mercy Hospital by the end of the year.
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AGAWAM
Committee adopts ‘fiscally responsible’ $55 million budget The Agawam School Committee recently approved a budget that avoids cuts to staff and programs.
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WEST SPRINGFIELD
Garden Club to host annual plant sale The Garden Club has been working since March for its annual plant sale on May 15-16.
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Councilors, residents ask about intersection project By Sarah Heinonen
sheinonen@thereminder.com
AGAWAM — The community turned out in force on April 27 to ask questions of Mayor Christopher Johnson and department heads about the need to change an intersection at the cost of a beloved business’s parking lot. Pajer Superette, referred to by residents as “Pajer’s,” sits on the corner of Cooper and Rowley streets where they meet Suffield Street. In 2023, the city was approved for a $100,000 grant from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s Community Mitigation Fund to design an updated intersection with safety improvements because Suffield Street is a throughway from Connecticut to the MGM Springfield casino. A subsequent $889,100 community mitigation grant was awarded for construction of the project, and the town would need to provide an $800,000 match. The grant funding expires on June 30, DPW Director Mario Mazza said, adding that he was trying to secure an extension, but the town “needs to show construction starting soon.” Mazza said early in the design process, the town considered a roundabout. However, the idea was scrapped because it would not fit well in the available space, and the town would need to take a significant amount of private land. Instead, the team working on the project settled on improvements to the signalized intersection. The improvements include dedicated left turn lanes,
From left: DPW Director Mario Mazza, Mayor Christopher Johnson and Town Engineer Michelle Chase listen to resident questions. Alfred Pajer, owner of Pajer Superette, argues with DPW Mario Mazza about plans to update the intersection in front of his shop. Reminder Publishing photos by Sarah Heinonen
technology that would change the light to green when an emergency vehicle’s flashing lights approach and crosswalks that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. While most of the sidewalk would be flat concrete that is level with the street, the corner of the lot would need to be rounded, and a curb and bollards would be installed to protect pedestrians waiting to cross the street. Most of the city councilors and residents who spoke at the April 21 meeting expressed support for updating the traffic lights, and some were in favor of a left turn lane. However, nearly everyone who spoke was against adding sidewalks and updating the crosswalks at the intersection because it would require an easement and a sidewalk that would cut into the corner of Pajer’s parking lot. Mazza explained that easements do not involve taking the land. Instead, the town pays the property owner a one-time fee to
access the land, sometimes temporarily, other times, as with Pajer’s, it is permanent. Town Engineer Michelle Chase presented mock-ups of the parking at Pajer’s and the number of spaces the shop would lose due to the sidewalk and curb at the corner. Because the lot is unstriped, she estimated there are currently nine 10-foot wide parking spaces in front of the building, two on the side and another seven in back, totaling 18. She said the plan would result in the loss of the two spaces in front of the building, closest to the street corner. If the spaces were striped and shrunken to a standard 9-foot width, she said, there would still be 16 spaces and room for a legally required accessible space. Councilor Anthony Suffriti pointed out that Chase assumed there were four parking spaces in front of a house that is adjacent to the shop. If Pajer sold the house in the future, those spaces would
not be available. Chase acknowledged that, reducing her estimate to 14 existing parking spaces and 12 spaces if the sidewalk were constructed. Pajer disagreed with Chase’s assessment. He said four cars park on the side of the building, and he would lose two of those as well as the ones in the front. He estimated that to be a loss of $120 worth of sales per week. Chase said she, Mazza and engineering company VHB, with which the town contracted for the project, took an in-depth look at Pajer’s property when drafting the design. Mazza and Chase said they have been in conversation with business owner Alfred Pajer over the past few years, and compromises have already been made, including trimming the curbed area by 3 feet on one side of the corner and 12 feet on the other. Several city councilors atSee PAJER’S on page 2
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