With receipt of a $65,000 bid to complete a master plan that was shelved in 2004, city leaders are hopeful of spurring development within the intermodal zone that hasn’t occurred, even as construction moves ahead on the $266 million facility.

Mayor Scott Avedisian sees completion of a master plan as opening a new era for the city “to market” development within the district and take full advantage of the spinoff from the Intermodal facility.

“I think the mayor’s office, the City Council and the agency really want something to happen over there and nothing is,” said Michael Grande, chairman of the Warwick Station Redevelopment Agency.

“This could be the biggest piece of economic development the city has seen in a long time,” City Council President Bruce Place said yesterday. “It’s going to fit in nicely. It’s good clean development. I’m very much in favor of that.”

Should the council approve the proposal of the Boston firm of Goody Clancy – the only bid received – the city would be on track to dissolving the Warwick Station Redevelopment Agency and severing its relationship with Bullfinch Companies.

Grande sees the agency’s role at this time as reviewing the master plan and turning it over to the planning department. “Everybody on the agency wants that to happen,” he said of development within the district.

The city gave Bullfinch the exclusive right to develop property within the intermodal zone on Oct. 5, 2000. The company had envisioned assembling parcels within the district for the development of hotels, offices and other uses augmenting the linkage of rail and air transportation brought about by the Intermodal facility.

That hasn’t happened.

The draft master plan that was paid for with federal funds was never used or completed by Bullfinch, the mayor explained.

Instead, development such as office buildings and hotels, has come outside the district

“We can’t expand the district until we develop the district,” City Planner Mark Carruolo said Tuesday.

Carruolo says developers are “cherry picking” sites outside the district, which is counter-intuitive to the concept of development spreading from the core outward. With council approval, Goody Clancy would finalize a master plan for the district. In place of the current mechanism where the redevelopment agency acts on individual requests, albeit they haven’t had much to do because of the lack of initiative on the part of Bullfinch, the planning board would act on development proposals.

Dismantling the agency would remove its powers to condemn property, eliminate competition and limit the cost per acre for the developer. Those were all powers Bullfinch had access to under the terms of its 10-year agreement with the city that have since expired, Carruolo said.

Although the Bullfinch agreement automatically renewed for an additional five years, Carruolo said he hasn’t heard from Bullfinch in several months and does not expect they will be a factor. Place said yesterday he met with Bullfinch representatives during the summer and they were informed of the city’s plan to move ahead with a master plan and assume marketing the district.

With dissolution of the redevelopment agency, which has the contract with Bullfinch, the city’s relationship with the firm will be severed.

Goody Clancy was retained to develop a master plan for the district when it became evident that Bullfinch wasn’t moving to acquire properties and bring new development to the area. That plan, which has remained under wraps, was partially completed in 2004.

Avedisian expects the plan can be updated within several months and at that point the city would tout development of the Intermodal facility and unveil a “a dynamic plan and encourage development.”

Aspects of the plan that need to be updated include traffic projections, economic conditions and new development that has occurred within the area, such as the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and proposed development such as the $300 million office and hotel complex proposed by Michael D’Ambra for Jefferson Boulevard.

Carruolo also sees the need for the designation of a “growth center” requiring legislative action. He explained that additional tax revenues resulting from new development are considered part of a municipality’s levy cap. Carruolo sees the need to exempt a portion of these new tax revenues from the cap so they can be set aside for infrastructure improvements.

Avedisian favors the concept.

He said he foresees meeting with the state Economic Development Corporation and “working it into their plans as well.”

In the cover letter accompanying the bid, David Spillane, AICP, RIBA principal, director of Planning and Urban Design at Goody Clancy writes: “Goody Clancy is eager and excited to help complete this plan, momentum for which is strongly evidenced by the construction of the airport car rental facility, confirmation of MBTA service starting 2011, and evident increased developer interest in the area.”

The bid proposal goes on to say a completed master plan for the district will unlock important opportunities:

- Transforming acres of underutilized, light industrial and strip retail development into a cohesive center of high-value, mixed-use development, including a mutually supportive mix of office, hotel residential and retail uses.

- Creating a proud new gateway to Warwick, Rhode Island, and New England for air and rail travelers.

- Providing the Warwick community a variety of new choices for transportation, housing and retail services responding to new, demographically-driven lifestyle preferences for walkable environments.

- Providing the existing Hillsgrove and Hillsgrove North neighborhoods improved transitions to surrounding new development, and walkable connections to new retail, transportation and housing options

- Creating a place that is sustainable and sustaining in multiple senses:

- Attracting and generating new jobs that strengthen Warwick’s and the state’s economy, by creating the kind of amenity-rich, interactive working environment that employers increasingly seek;

- Establishing a community destination integrated into existing neighborhoods and new housing choices; and

- Making efficient use of land, transportation and energy resources to optimize development value for the Warwick community and for the district’s private-sector investors in business and development.