Sworn in to serve his fourth term this week, Mayor John Vieau says keeping the city of 55,000 affordable and safe continues to be a focus for him and the Chicopee City Council.
It’s not a huge departure from his initial priorities back in 2020, when Vieau first came into office, but the efforts have been picking up steam.
He tells WAMC that includes work to install a Real Time Information Center in the city’s police department, while also redeveloping properties across one of the Pioneer Valley’s historic industrial hubs.
“We're cutting edge in technology in the PD and working to continue to promote that, [we’re] retaining the services that everyone expects, building the Barry Elementary School — a huge project,” Vieau said in an interview Wednesday. “[We] really want to focus on the move of the school admin offices to the downtown, and really… one of my main goals is to make sure we activate this hub, which [includes] the former central library, and turn that into a community space where it draws people downtown. That's the goal.”
Looking back, 2025 turned out to be a significant year for ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings, Vieau recounts.
A yearslong effort to turn the former Belcher School into 25 apartments came to fruition, while officials broke ground on a project involving the tallest building to go up in Chicopee — the redevelopment of the former Facemate property, a project encompassing an eight-story apartment building and its proposed 105 units.
“The developer has [found] some really creative ways to fund the project, and is also using resources from state and federal government,” he noted, adding that over half of the units will be restricted to households earning between 30 to 60% of the area median income. “[We're] excited to see affordable units being built in Chicopee … and we have a potential for maybe a thousand more.”
Vieau contends those efforts and others put Chicopee in a unique position to tackle the state’s housing crisis. Nestled along the Connecticut and Chicopee Rivers and just north of Springfield, the city is home to a number of former mills and factories.
Vieau says that, with a preferred developer in tow, the city is making headway at the Uniroyal property, and unlocking even more housing potential.
“The cleanup is getting last mile stuff done through Michelin, who's the parent company to the Uniroyal company, so they're on the hook to clean it, and we're overseeing … I think there's a meeting going on right now next door about it,” he said, gesturing to the city offices across the hall. “But ultimately, we have a preferred developer and they want to turn it into market rate units, so, we see this potential for housing there as well.”
Coincidentally, it’s another mill property that makes up one of the mayor’s chief concerns at the start of 2026 — the Cabotville Mill, a sprawling property off of Front Street that Vieau says is key to the city’s downtown revitalization … and lagging in terms of repurposing.
The city has recently taken action.
“It's 700,000+ square feet of vacant space that has become a burden on Chicopee and we have started the tax title process - a very long, involved one - before we actually take title,” Vieau said. “Chicopee’s not interested in taking title [for] any properties. It's a last resort, but we also have to be responsible, and especially for a unique property of that size and its location to the immediate downtown.”
“It is a key component to the success of the downtown space, so we're hopeful that the current owner finds a prospective buyer that has the wherewithal or the ability to hopefully redevelop the space,” he continued. “If not, we're going to continue to proceed on ways … to protect our community.”
Concerning as it may be, progress made elsewhere in the city has the mayor optimistic, even with tighter state and federal budgets and grant funding on the horizon.
The city’s planning netted statewide recognition in December, with Chicopee winning a “Comprehensive Planning Award” from the American Planning Association’s Massachusetts Chapter.
Chicopee also earned a No. 1 rank on the Family Destination Guide’s list of most affordable cities in Massachusetts, particularly for those living on Social Security alone.
Vieau says the designation and other honorifics show that, whether it’s setting budgets, securing grants or planning, Chicopee’s on the right track.
“We try to live within our means. We proceed at a pace that is palatable to the taxpayers, and the goal is to continue to do that and we're very fortunate to have a very strong commercial base, industrial base,” he said. “With the downsizing of Westover in the 70s, [it] created these wonderful industrial parks that created living wage jobs and also an industrial/commercial tax base that's been really beneficial to keeping taxes at bay for our residents.”
