WESTFIELD — Amendments to the One Westfield Place redevelopment project were approved by a narrow margin during a regular meeting of the local governing body on Tuesday after nearly three hours of public discussion and debate.

The vote — like the one held last month to introduce the changes — was split along party lines. Mayor Shelley Brindle and Democratic council members Linda Habgood, David Contract, Michael Dardia and James Hely collectively touted the project as a beneficial compromise that would both better meet the needs of the redeveloper and its potential future tenants, and assuage certain community concerns related to the project’s size, scope and overall potential impact. Republican council members Todd Saunders, Michael Armento, David Kiefer and Michal Domogala, meanwhile, claimed that the process to amend the plan lacked transparency and criticized the Brindle administration for failing to put the needs of the community before those of investors.

Last month, when the changes were introduced, Mayor Brindle explained that the project’s redevelopment entity, HBC|Streetworks, had approached the town earlier this year looking to modify the agreement after speaking with potential tenants for the Lord & Taylor building on North Avenue.

“We seized this as an opportunity to revisit the [redevelopment plan] and negotiate a series of changes that address many of the concerns we have heard from residents,” Mayor Brindle said in October, shortly after the amendments were introduced.

The project, Mayor Brindle said Tuesday, will, among other objectives, enable the town to “expand and diversify its tax base, restore downtown jobs, increase foot traffic to local businesses, promote pedestrian safety and advance affordable-housing obligations” while protecting the town from state-mandated, high-density housing and potential developer lawsuits. The amended plan calls for the removal of 200,000 square feet of office space initially slated for construction at the South Avenue train station parking lot, converts two underground parking garages (one at the Lord & Taylor site and one on South Avenue) into above-ground parking decks, allows HBC|Streetworks to host an urgentcare facility as one of its potential tenants and lifts a previous 55-plus age restriction on 16 West Zone town homes to expand market-rate offerings. The amendments also include provisions to decrease building heights across the scope of the project and reduce its overall residential and commercial footprints by about 25 percent.

“This is simply an amendment to the existing redevelopment plan,” Mayor Brindle said ahead of Tuesday night’s public hearing. “It’s not a replacement; it’s not a vote to revisit the entire project. If this smaller amended plan does not pass the council, the existing [redevelopment plan] that was approved and adopted in 2023 remains in place.”

Residents were invited to step to the microphone with questions pertaining to the amendments on Tuesday night. Many of those who spoke, including several representatives from the Westfield Advocates For Responsible Development (an ad hoc citizens group that has filed lawsuits against the town in regards to two separate redevelopment projects), questioned the validity of the negotiations with Streetworks and balked at claims that the amended plan would actually deliver a smaller project.

“We have heard the mayor talk about a 25-percent reduction, and that is absolutely incorrect,” resident Robert McNamara said. “When you initially have 155,000 square feet of above-ground parking and you change it to 421,000 square feet…you’re obviously going to increase the size of the building.”

Town Planner Don Sammet defended the oft-repeated reduction rate, noting that while above-ground square footage for the project may ultimately be increased by the parking decks, “we have to look at the scope of the project as it relates to how much of the space is dedicated to principal usages” like housing, retail and office space.

Mr. Sammet also reiterated the plan that the proposed parking decks will be “masked” by other aspects of the development in order to make them less visible from the street.

The council members each shared their opinions on the revisions before casting their final votes Tuesday night.

“Streetworks came to us because they can’t do the deal as originally planned — full stop,” Councilman Kiefer said, adding that while tenant demands may well have factored into the conversation, he doubted the mayor’s claim that they served as the “true impetus” for the amendments.”

“This is a cost-cutting measure, and I challenge anyone to tell me that there is a different reason behind this,” Mr. Kiefer said, citing the move from underground parking to above-ground decks as an example of the redeveloper’s efforts to cut back on expenses. “This could have been leverage for us, and if it were up to me, I would have called their bluff and had them redo the deal [without the additional above-ground parking garages]. Instead, we’re left with a ‘take it- or-leave-it proposition’, and I have to leave it.”

Councilman Saunders requested that the governing body begin the redevelopment process anew by submitting a Request for Proposal to allow other potential development entities to pitch their ideas for the municipal lots.

“If HBC comes back at the end of the process as the best [option], then I would be willing to vote yes on this,” Mr. Saunders said. “If you want us to work together, if you want this to be a bipartisan decision, this is the way we should do it.”

“This feels a bit gimmicky,” Mayor Brindle said of the suggestion. “It’s also a long process. The whole reason that we are combining those [municipal] lots with the Lord & Taylor site is because together, they are greater than the sums of their parts. We have spent three years on this to come up with something that we are all comfortable with…” “You guys are comfortable with it,” Mr. Saunders interrupted. “We’re not.”

A scheduled conversation regarding the project’s financial agreement — which will also need to be amended – was pulled from the agenda Tuesday night in order to give the town’s Finance and Policy Committee time to review the necessary information.

“We started to try to take control of our development seven years ago because we were tired of these one off projects that were not part of a larger plan, and that is what we have done here,” Mayor Brindle said, adding that redevelopment opportunities like OWP give the town more control in trying to determine the right future for the community. “I’m disappointed once again that this is going to be a partisan vote,” she said.

The next regular meeting of the Westfield mayor and council will be held at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3, at the town hall.