Salvador Pina has resigned as Director of the Community and Economic Development Authority, as of Nov. 9.

Pina declined to comment, save to say he did not plan in advance to resign, and is resigning for personal family reasons.

Addressing Selectmen Tuesday night, Town Administrator Derek Sullivan said "we appreciate all his hard work over the years . . . and wish him well in future endeavors."

CEDA, the town's version of an urban renewal authority, is overseen by a seven-member board appointed by the Board of Selectmen. The director runs the authority on a day-to-day basis.

CEDA's primary source of funding is the state’s Community Development Block Grant Program, a federally-funded grant program designed to help small cities and towns meet community development needs. Towns with a high population of low-and moderate-income residents are given assistance with housing, community, and economic development projects.

Over the years, block grant money has been put to work on everything from redoing sidewalks and streetlights on Main Street to providing low-interest loans to help mobile home owners make necessary repairs.

Sullivan said it was "not an ideal time" for the director to resign, as the town prepared to apply for next year's grant money. He said he had already met with CEDA board Chair Jean Connaughton, senior CEDA staff, and representatives from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers the grant program.

The town administrator said his recommendation would be to hire a consultant to fill the director's chair for about six months, while the town "reviews the CEDA director's position." The state, he said, had given him names of several consultants with the experience to fill the role on a temporary basis.

Pina signed on as the authority’s director in March 2012, and has been the driving force behind a variety of projects -- most notably the downtown Streetscapes project and planning to redesign Merchants Way, which runs between Main Street and the Agawam River.

He has also been dragged into the ongoing Bay Pointe Club proposal to construct a 90-unit housing development on a portion of the club's Onset land. CEDA owns 7.5 acres of land at Bay Pointe. Although that acreage is not included in the development proposal, Bay Pointe's owners have been blunt and public about how they feel mistreated by CEDA and its director.