WEST SPRINGFIELD – The town is participating in the Massachusetts Local Rapid Recovery Plan (LRRP) Program and is conducting local surveys for business owners in the Downtown, Merrick, or Memorial areas.

This includes private entities, nonprofit organizations, and temporarily closed businesses.

The LRRP Program was offered by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) Mass Downtown Initiative in response to the economic downturn resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

Planner Administrator Allyson Manuel told Reminder Publishing that the program connected West Springfield and other communities across the state with consultants who are helping draft the rapid recovery plans.

“The plans will take into account local conditions and feedback from businesses and other stakeholders to create a series of actionable projects that reflect COVID-19 recovery needs, community priorities, and available resources and incentives,” Manuel said.

She continued to say that there will likely be an emphasis on improvements to public sidewalks, streets and public parking in order to support local economic recovery and development.

The LRRP Program process is broken down into three phases. The first phase is the business survey and diagnostics, which includes collecting data, engaging with stakeholders to understand the COVID-19 impacts and major concerns. The second phase will identify priority projects and get feedback from stakeholders to clarify and finalize the list of projects. The third phase will include drafting the actual rapid recovery plan, gathering broader community feedback on the plan and project recommendations and finalizing the plan for submission to the state.

“It has not been decided how the community feedback will be solicited, but I expect a hybrid approach that might include a virtual meeting and the solicitation of written comments via email and social media. The final plan must be completed by August,” Manuel said.

When asked why businesses’ location has to be in one of the three areas, Manuel explained that the program guidance specifically requested communities to narrow their study area to their core downtown, with a requirement that the study area is a contiguous, concentrated area.

“West Springfield’s traditional downtown, commonly considered the area around Elm and Park Streets, is rather small, so we were able to branch out to the adjacent Merrick and Memorial areas as well. However, Riverdale [Street] and points north were excluded due to the lack of geographic proximity,” she said.

The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LRRPBiz?fbclid=IwAR1ems-dyAQqCYNC4CpuC2AttvSvPfiSyvSqk0Q2goyXqTubEg-z0z3s-ro and will be open until April 12.