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Developer's offer draws suspicion

Friday, November 04, 2005

By DAN LAMOTHE

dlamothe@repub.com

AGAWAM - It's either the gesture of people who'd like to be good neighbors in the community or a calculated attempt to sway voters with the power of cold, hard cash, depending on who's talking.

National Realty & Development Corp., the developer of the proposed 563,000-square-foot shopping center eyed for land off Tennis Road and Mill Street, has pledged to establish a $1 million trust fund in the city, with dividends going annually to several civic organizations and scholarships.

The catch is that the trust, which would generate an estimated $70,000 in money locally per year, will not be funded unless construction on the controversial project, which comes up in the form of two binding questions on the Nov. 8 city ballot, gets a green light.

Mark H. Robbins, managing director for National Realty & Development, said the trust is similar to a fund that was set up several years ago by Berkshire Power, the developer of another hot-button project for Agawam voters in 1995.

"It would have quarterly distributions, with trustees put in place to make appropriate allocations to civic groups, whether it's the baseball team, the school, or the senior center," he said.

The promised donations have elicited a mixed response from residents, with some questioning National Realty & Development's motives for establishing the trust.

"They're trying to buy their way into town," said Karl A. Merriam, president of Citizens Against Reckless Development, which has actively opposed the construction of the project. "It's basically blood money."

Already, at least one other group in town has displayed a hesitancy to accept funds from National Realty & Development, with the Friends of the Agawam Senior Center declining to accept a $6,500 donation from the developers as part of their Oct. 22 fund-raiser, "Walk a Mile for a Senior."

In a surprise move, the group declined to accept the donation during a planned ceremony Tuesday morning, saying they thought it better not to accept donations from the developers, with the future of the shopping center hinging on the election.

"We wanted to wait (until after the election) before we accepted anything like this," said J. Emile Cote, president of the group. "It seems as though they'd be buying votes with the donation."

The donation, which would have boosted money raised at the event from $3,600 to more than the $10,000 mark, was offered in the form of a sponsorship for Fay A. Borgatti, who participated in the walk and also serves as chairwoman of Citizens in Favor of Retail, a leading proponent of the project.

Borgatti said she is disappointed the group would not accept the donation, since she participated in the walk.

"It was a little shocking to me," she said. "I walked out there in the freezing cold and the rain just like everybody else."

Calling people who criticize the formation of a trust fund "backwards-thinking" and "ill-informed," Robbins said the trust is meant to be a "good neighbor gesture," not a political move.

"If we're swaying people's decisions by doing good things, what's wrong with that?" he said.

Robbins said NRDC also has developed a video on the $50 million project to address concerns and show benefits it could have. The video will be shown repeatedly on Channel 15, Agawam's cable access channel, over the next few days.