WEST SPRINGFIELD – The future of the former West Springfield Generating Station may be determined by a study that has been funded by an earmark in the state budget.

The plant, which has been a landmark for generations, is in the town’s southeastern corner near Route 5 and the Memorial Avenue rotary.

State Rep. Michael Finn secured the funding of $150,000 for a study of what to do with the building and the 9-acre site.

Finn explained the former power plant was the largest single taxpayer in the city – $3 million annually. The goal of redevelopment would be to develop the property to return it to the tax rolls.

Mayor William Reichelt said to Reminder Publishing the city’s Planning Department has started work on a request for proposals for the study and should be ready in “a month or so.”

He added, “As soon as possible I’d like answers.”

The plant was built in 1949 by Western Massachusetts Electric Company as an oil- and coal-fired facility and passed through several owners, including Consolidated Edison. In 2016, Finn explained, the building was bought by Cogentrix Energy funded by the Carlyle Group, which used the plant’s generating potential as a “a peak demand plant.” He said the plant would be put in use at times when additional electricity was needed.

“It’s a balancing act,” Finn said of the plant’s former role.

About a year and a half ago, Finn noted the plant did not receive the contract to supply peak power and the owners decided to decommission it. Finn noted the generators have been sold.

He said having a decommissioned fossil fuel power plant was not a problem unique to West Springfield, as Salem had a similar situation.

Finn described it as a “dinosaur of a building” and said the study when completed would answer the question “What can we do with it?”

He said there are many questions to be answered, including whether it is considered a brownfield – contaminated land that must be cleaned up before any new construction.

“There’s lots of things we don’t know,” he said.

Some people have suggested to him the site could be the home of a solar field, but Finn said he wants to see the “highest and best use of it.”

Another potential use of the site would be to run a truck access road through it from Route 5 that would take truck traffic off of Memorial Avenue.

Reichelt said potential reuse of the site has been mentioned several times in the past, and the town still has plans and proposals on file from years ago. “We have some of the stuff to work with,” the mayor said.

He noted that before the Red Sox’ top minor-league affiliate built Polar Park in Worcester as its new home, the site had been considered for a baseball stadium. When Hard Rock Casinos was planning a location at the Big E grounds, there were studies involving the site and nearby Agawam Avenue. The site was also considered in 2015 when Massachusetts was considering bidding for the 2024 Olympics.

More recently, Reichelt said, there have been discussions about building a hotel on the property, which is visible from the Memorial Bridge and stands directly across the river from downtown Springfield.

He said he is very interested in developing “the front door” of the city for its best possible use.