WESTFIELD — Westfield came one step closer to designating its second official historic district on Tuesday when the Town Council voted to introduce a series of new preservation ordinances that would add three neighboring properties on Dudley Avenue to the local registry.
“We’re very excited about this,” Mayor Shelley Brindle said, speaking during Tuesday evening’s agenda setting meeting. “People are starting think about voluntary historic designations as a type of legacy gift that they can leave this community. This is also helping us to minimize teardowns around town, which is something that we have struggled with for a long time.”
According to information provided by the Westfield Historic Preservation Commission,whichgranteditsapproval to the new designations earlier this month, the three houses date back to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and bore witness to the days when the railroads helpedtotransformthecommunityfrom an agricultural farm village to the busy residential town that it is today.
Once the council formally designates the three properties, the town will be able to start looking into the possibility of creating a new historic district similar to the one that already exists on Kimble Avenue.
“We’re starting to see a lot more voluntary designations, and I think that really speaks to our collective priorities as a town,” Mayor Brindle said.
The council also finalized two other ordinances on Tuesday – one which pertains to shade tree regulations and another that will allow the town to allocate $635,000 of its capital improvement fund to various road repairs, facilities upgrades and park projects.
“I just want to remind everyone that these funds have already been allocated and that none of these improvements will incur any new debt service,” Mayor Brindle said.
Westfield drivers should also be aware of a new traffic pattern at the intersection of Clark Street and Dudley Avenue, Town Administrator Jim Gildea said Tuesday.
“We have finished the installation of the new four-way stop sign and it seems to be going well,” he said. “These are the types of projects that look very simple on paper but actually take a fair amount of work to execute properly.”
The town’s Department of Public Works has also finished adding new curb striping to the intersection to increase site lines.
Other road improvement projects, including paving efforts along multiple community streets, are expected to continue as the town moves into what officials say will likely be a busy summer season.
“The Westfield Memorial Pool is opening up this Saturday, and I know we’re all excited about that,” Mr. Gildea said, adding that this year will mark the third consecutive soldout season for the pool since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Municipal offices have also started to operate on a summer schedule and will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Fridays. That schedule will remain in place through the end of August.
The next meeting of the Westfield mayor and council will be held at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11, in the Town Hall.
