Chicopee Council Approves Brisa Land Deal, $125,000 Cabotville Security Funding

CHICOPEE -- March 10, 2025, Chicopee City Council clears path for Brisa housing project and spends $125,000 securing Cabotville mill. At a special meeting Monday, the 13-member council voted unanimously to authorize a real estate conveyance and easement agreement enabling BD Singing Bridge LLC to close on tax credit financing for its long-delayed mixed-use proposal at the four-acre Baskin property in Chicopee Falls, more than 100 residential units, a sports complex, and a 10,000-square-foot brewery on a brownfield site in the works since 2019. City Planner Lee Pouya said the developer hopes to break ground this spring on an 18-to-20-month construction schedule. The council also voted 12-1 to appropriate $125,000 from free cash to board the first floor of the privately owned Cabotville Industrial Park at 165 Front Street and fund $25-per-day daily security checks, replacing unsustainable 24-hour guard coverage; Building Commissioner Frank Boron confirmed $78,000 in fines have accrued and the city intends to lien the property for all costs. The council's most contested action was a 12-0 vote to refer Mayor John Vieau's appointment of Carla Barasa as Chief Human Resources Officer to both executive session and the Human Resources Committee, after a former city councilor cited an investigative report by retired Superior Court Judge Mary Lou Rupp that he said concluded HR leadership was "not capable of righting the sinking ship."