The Board members of the BID discussed the following items at their monthly Board meeting:

The Wayfinding Sign program will be installed in the next two weeks. Visitors to Springfield will be able to find their way around town using these directional signs. It will be easier to locate the Town Hall, Library, Historic buildings and the business districts.

Redevelopment is moving along with three projects at different stages of implementation. The Gomes building on Morris Ave. is scheduled for demolition early next year, the Century 21/Church Mall project is working with the town to finalize the redevelopment agreement and the Rica Project will be going before the Planning Board for confirmation of final plans.

The BID’s Vacant Window Project is on hold waiting for confirmation of a demolition timeline.

The BID is working with the Planning Board on developing design criteria for signage and facades. A draft plan has been developed by the Planning Board committee and the BID will meet with them to finalize the criteria and the process for review.

The BID discussed requesting the Town to issue a Bond for the remainder of the streetscape project on Mountain Ave. The BID will be responsible for paying back the Town for the Bond in total with interest. A committee of the BID will meet to discuss the specifics of the Bond request.

The Summer Coupons project was a big success. Many of the participating businesses had more traffic and captured new customers from this promotion. The fall promotion will be in October and it will include a pumpkin hunt having customers visit participating businesses and filling in a sticker book to win prizes.

The summer concert series “Sound Bites” was successful. People liked the new venue (Town Hall) and enjoyed the music and food.

The BID Board agreed that projects that have been worked on since our inception are finally starting to be implemented and we are looking forward to planning the next 5 years.