Six Flags plans please Agawam officials

[GAcoaster]

From MassLive.com:

 

Six Flags plans please Agawam officials

 

AGAWAM - City officials said Monday they were happy to see Six Flags New England preparing its first major park improvements since it abandoned plans to build a $7.5 million indoor roller coaster earlier this year.

 

The Planning Board has given its unanimous approval to proposed site plans for the "Slingshot," a new attraction that catapaults riders in a capsule guided by cables nearly 200 feet into the air, then floats them gently back to earth.

 

The board has also approved proposed site plans for improvements to the amusement park's award-winning Superman Ride of Steel roller coaster and to its Thomas the Train ride site.

 

"We're very excited to see them initiate plans for 2009," Planning Board Chairman Travis P. Ward said. "It shows that Six Flags continues to believe in Agawam as a park site, and we look forward to their continued success."

 

The plans approved by the board Dec. 18, Ward pointed out, are the first presented by Six Flags since City Council approved a zoning ordinance amendment last month that allows the park to build rides up to 200 feet tall without a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. The previous maximum height allowed without a special permit was 45 feet.

 

"We're very pleased that they came to the table with new projects," said Ward, who said there was a concern after Six Flags threw in the towel on its Dark Knight indoor roller coaster project - in part because of permitting delays - that it might hold off on further improvements to its park here.

 

The Dec. 18 site plan approval process went smoothly, in part, he said, because "their engineers do a great job of giving the Planning Board complete and accurate information."

 

Zoning Board Chairwoman Doreen A. Prouty said she too was happy Six Flags was embarking on park improvements.

 

"I'm glad that they're staying in town, that's for sure," Prouty said. "They tend to be good for the town. They employ a lot of kids over the summer. So it's good that they're putting improvements into the park."

 

Because the Slingshot - a generic name the park plans to change - at approximately 195 feet tall, no longer requires review by the Zoning Board of Appeals, the approval process is expected to be relatively short. Park officials have said time is of the essence when they try to build new rides in the limited time the park is closed during the winter.

 

Six Flags is, however, scheduled to appear before the Zoning Board Jan. 26 to seek a special permit for the improvements it is planning for the Superman Ride of Steel because part of that ride's site is in the Connecticut River floodplain.

 

"We're very excited," Six Flags New England President Larry D. Litton said of the park's new plans. "I just think it's going to continue to enhance the park."

 

"I think the company is going to continue investing in the property, and I think (that's) good for the park and good for the community," Litton said.

 

A "pop-jet fountain," to be ready for the park's opening in the spring, is planned for the Thomas the Train site, Litton said. With jets of water spraying from above and below, it will be "a place for kids to cool off" in the hot summer months, he said.

 

The new set of audio and visual enhancements for the Superman Ride of Steel should be ready by Memorial Day weekend, and the new Slingshot Ride is expected to open, with a new name, by spring break in April, Litton said.