EAST LONGMEADOW – Longmeadow Town Manager Stephen Crane met with the Board of Public Works at its Feb. 2 meeting to discuss a concept that would create a joint Department of Public Works (DPW) facility to serve both East Longmeadow and Longmeadow.

Crane said Longmeadow is looking to build a new DPW facility, but the current site is on a 100-year flood plan and sits on former burn ash dump. The current estimate for a new DPW facility in Longmeadow is $15 million.

“It is possible to rebuild [at the current site] in the same way that if I work hard enough I could be quarterback of the New England Patriots,” he explained.

Other proposed sites have been looked at such as a portion of Wolf Swamp Fields and Grande Meadows Athletic Club, but both sites have challenges, Crane said. Residents have been very vocal against losing athletic field space at Wolf Swamp Fields and Grande Meadows is privately owned and is assessed at $2.2 million.

Crane said his town is 98 percent built out and there aren’t many five to six acre parcels that the community could build a DPW facility on.

“I do believe there are valuable ways in which partnerships can be formed,” he added. “Those partnerships are usually started by just a pitch similar to this ... I owe it to my community anyway to ask what is the view of a shared facility.”

He noted both communities have similar sizes, road miles, and equipped DPW facilities.

“There could be some efficiencies to be gained by sharing a facility,” Crane said. “With the lack of availability of land that is suitable for this type of thing in Longmeadow, I think Longmeadow, and I don’t want to speak for the voters, but I think paying for a greater than 50 percent share of the facility in exchange for having it sited [in East Longmeadow] and not taking up valuable taxable property or playing space would be something Longmeadow would embrace.”

Board of Public Works Chair John Maybury said the town currently has a functional DPW facility.

“We need to figure out how to pitch that because right now we’re functional and we’re going to take land off the tax rolls and we’re getting closer to our levy limit,” he added. “You would probably would need to have a debt exclusion for that kind of money. The concept kind of makes sense.”

He noted East Longmeadow does not own property in its industrial park, which is an area that Longmeadow is interested in.

Board of Public Works member Daniel Burack said the board would be “laughed out of town” if it brought the idea forward to residents.

“There’s no way that we can say that out of the blue we need a new facility,” he added.  

Crane said he understands the idea is “completely out of sequence” in regards to East Longmeadow’s long-term facility needs.

“If you’re going to go out of turn, you’re better to get your bang for your buck,” he added. “I truthfully believe that if this ever played out, it would be a good bang for the buck.”