The city of New Bedford is considering relaxing the requirements for a new industrial park, called the Advanced Manufacturing Campus, after no commercial real estate developers submitted proposals by the Sept. 30 deadline.
The 100-acre campus would be carved out of an active municipal golf course, the Whaling City Golf Course, which totals 275 acres, adjacent to the intersection of Routes 195 and 140.
Mayor Jon Mitchell said the city can’t control the economic factors that may have deterred developers — such as rising interest rates — but it could expand the allowable uses of the property.
“It could be — and I don't want to speculate — it could be that the zoning was too restrictive,” he said. “There's a careful balancing that has to take place there. We don't want just anything on that site. We have high standards in New Bedford.”
Elements of the golf course that are within the footprint of the new campus are being moved.
The old Request for Proposals required that developers wait for that work to be done, the mayor said. “That may have been a hangup.”
The city has hired a consultant to interview the more than 60 companies that asked for the RFP to see what changes would make the plan more attractive.
But the city will not allow any use it considers an “eyesore,” such as tire recycling, Mitchell said.
New Bedford sees the campus as prime commercial real estate — one of the best sites available in eastern New England, he said.
It has access to two highways, a connection to the regional rail system, and is half a mile from the New Bedford Regional Airport.
Mitchell announced Monday that the airport has received funding from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for design and engineering of a new terminal and control tower.
The public golf course is expected to continue operating on the remaining land.
An existing industrial park in the far North End, the New Bedford Business Park, is nearly full, the mayor said.
