Sustainability And Safety Priorities For Williams Summer Construction Projects

10:49AM / Wednesday, September 05, 2007Print Story | Email Story

Williams College continued investing in its campus and its commitment to energy efficiency this summer as workers tackled approximately $136 million of building renovations and construction projects. "This summer we have focused much of our efforts on sustainability and safety," Associate Vice President for Facilities and Auxiliary Services Irene Addison said. "Our new buildings are being constructed with a focus on green building including energy efficiency, recycling, and indoor air quality. We are committed to integrating the principles for sustainability into all of our projects." A new Williams College Children's Center at 44 Whitman Street is near completion and slated for opening within the next few weeks. The new state-of-the-art center, designed by architectural firm D. W. Arthur Associates of Boston that specializes in early childhood design, replaces the Park Street childcare site. Two years of planning came before the construction of the 9,300-square-foot building, which took a year to build, said Christopher Williams, the college's project manager. The children's center will provide high-quality care for children from infancy to pre-school age and offer a summer and after-school. The center is a partnership between the college and Child Care of Northern Berkshires, Inc. The new single story building is located on about four acres and cost approximately $6.1 million. The center hosts seven classrooms, indoor play area, office space, a kitchen, and numerous child-size bathrooms. The building offers fiber optic communications connections. Parking areas, a driveway, and an expansive outdoor playground outfitted with new, child-friendly equipment and many plantings are part of the site. A major, $128 million three-phase project involving construction of academic buildings and renovations and new construction of the Sawyer and Stetson libraries continues to move forward. The project includes construction of two sites referred to as the North and South academic buildings, a Stetson Hall renovation that includes construction of a new library and center for media initiatives, and demolition of the Sawyer Library. Sawyer demolition will lead to creation of new green landscaped space. Construction of the 58,000-square-foot North Academic Building was launched in March 2007 and construction of the 42,000-square-foot South Academic Building began in June, said project manager Bruce Decoteau. The structures are situated along the north and south sides of the existing Sawyer Library. Substantial construction completion is expected by August, 2008. Both buildings will house faculty and administration offices. The North building will include an archaeology lab, TA offices, and the faculty lounge. Design development is underway for the Stetson Hall renovation and library construction, and Sawyer Library demolition is in the planning stages, Decoteau said. "We hope to begin renovation of Stetson Hall in the late fall of 2008 and construction of the new library and IT space in the spring of 2009," he said. "Completion for that phase of the project is projected for Spring 2011." Barr and Barr Builders Inc of Williamstown and New York City are the construction managers for the North and South buildings. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects of Philadelphia are the architects for the three project phases. A number of renovation and repair projects to make college buildings safer and extend their usable life are also nearing completion. Fitch House, a student dormitory, experienced an exterior renovation as workers replaced terracotta and installed a new roof. College project manager Thomas Mahar said that the interior work included upgrading the fire alarm system and making the kitchen accessible. The project is about 95 percent completed, Mahar said. Fitch House railing installation and a patio renovation are scheduled for Spring Break, he said. The Allegrone Masonry Company of Pittsfield, Mass. and the Douglas J. Wooliver and Sons Inc. roofing firm of Lanesboro, Mass., performed the masonry and roofing work. Mesick, Cohen, Wilson, and Baker Architects LLP of Albany N.Y. was the project architect. The Ryan- Biggs Associates PC firm of Albany, N.Y. was the project's consulting engineer. Lasell Gymnasium at the corner of Spring and Main streets is undergoing a $500,000 interior renovation to expand the fitness center facilities, said college project manager Jason Moran. The work is very near completion and Moran expects to present the building during a Sept. 24 re-opening event. "We have been giving the inside a face-lift and creating a more efficient space," said Moran, who served as the project general contractor. The 6,500-square-foot space, which was mostly open area, was treated to improved ventilation, new paint, a new floor, new carpeting, new efficient light fixtures, and installation of mirrors. The area is being made handicapped-accessible as well. A Hoxsey Street/Stetson Court utility replacement project in cooperation with a town street renovation included a replacement of aging underground steam lines, an electrical duct bank, drainage work, and replacement of an underground east/west communications conduit beneath Stetson Court. The college portion of the project is nearly completed, project manager Bob Jarvis said. The area between Williams Hall and Mission Park along the campus' north edge was the site of a 500-foot underground steam pipe replacement project and is near completion, project manager Donald Clark said. The David Krutiak Construction Co. of Adams and the Adams Plumbing and Heating firm of Adams were the project contractors.

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Williamstown Planning Board Narrowing in on Subdivision Bylaw Changes

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:41PM / Monday, June 08, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board late last month discussed specific features of what it plans to pass as a new subdivision control bylaw this year.

The board long has discussed the complex set of regulations as being out of date and cumbersome to both potential developers and the board itself, which has needed to hear requests for waivers of outdated rules for the handful of residential subdivisions that have been proposed in town in recent years.

This spring, the town engaged consultants from Northampton's Dodson and Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning to go through the existing bylaw, compare it to more contemporary regulations in other communities and help craft a revised bylaw.

Unlike the zoning bylaw, where amendments require approval of town meeting, the subdivision control bylaw is a creation of the Planning Board, which can make changes on its own after a public hearing process it hopes to complete this year.

At a special Planning Board meeting on May 26, Dillon Sussman of Dodson and Flinker and his colleagues walked the board through a dozen different decision points that the board must resolve — either by leaving the bylaw as is or making a change — and offered suggestions based on best practices.

All of the issues are technical and ranged from the fundamental, like how the bylaw will define types of subdivisions, to the highly specific, like what turning radii will be required in new streets that are constructed to serve planned developments.

One example of a topic that came up in the recent approval of a four-home subdivision off Summer Street is stormwater management.

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