BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2015 Spring Fieldbook | Page 58

BSLA

/ MEMBER

LEE POULIOT, ASLA
UNEXPECTED PATHS

I

suppose there’s only one way to set the stage
for this timeline—by helping you understand
that almost everything that has occurred
during my academic and professional lives has
happened despite this perfectionist’s attempt to
plan and execute very specific career steps upon
graduation from high school. My initial life plan
was linear and offered no opportunity to stray
from the path, for fear of failure, but my story,
however, became one of constant
detours and unforeseen
opportunities leading to
“here” and instilling
a willingness to be
‘career flexible.’ Since
earning my MLA,
I’ve always called
myself a Landscape
Architect who
focuses on impacting
people’s lives in
our ever-changing
environments. As
a City Planner, I ask
myself should I abandon
my definition of Landscape
Architect and accept that my path is
squarely in the world of Urban Planning?
I am currently the Acting Planning Director for
the City of Chicopee, the City where I grew up.
Our western Massachusetts cities—Springfield,
Chicopee, Northampton, Easthampton,
Greenfield—while certainly not the same urban
scale as Boston, are nonetheless urban centers
dealing with similar urban challenges routinely
encountered in our largest cities.
Chicopee is best described as being a postindustrial City—one that hasn’t quite developed
a contemporary identity. Chicopee’s evolution
goes something like this:
• Small farming villages established outside
of Springfield;
• Agrarian lifestyle interrupted by outside
investment Boston Associates who harness
water power and develop mills;

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Industrial Revolution explodes, Chicopee
converts to a industrial center;
Westover Air Force Base established;
Manufacturing diminishes following
World War II continuing through the end
of the century;
Today, some mills sit vacant, while
others are being demolished. Chicopee’s
population topped out at 66,676 around
1970, but now has dropped to 55,298 with
minimal growth projected.

After an undergraduate degree at Delaware
Valley College (a small school and a story
in and of itself), I was accepted at Cornell
and was not prepared for the breadth
of opportunity offered. Focusing on the
urban scale, I was attracted to projects that
dealt with the realities of a post-industrial
world. Brownfields, abandoned buildings,
underutilized/abandoned properties,
shrinking cities, ecological processes,
regeneration, sustainability, LEED, non-native
plants, urban planning, and even real estate
development mixed together in what seemed
to be a never-ended conversation with like
minded individuals.
For my Capstone Studio project during my
final semester, I convinced a few others to
select Chicopee as our subject site, as it offered
a unique opportunity to work on an authentic
Brownfields project in a context other than
that of New York State or New York City.
This began the H.E.A.L. Chicopee planning
process for the former Uniroyal and Facemate
properties in Chicopee—65 acres of Brownfields
in one of the oldest areas of the City. There \›