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The City Council approved the pilot program on Tuesday.

Pittsfield Piloting Storefront Improvement Program For Tyler Street

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is launching a facade improvement program to help owners of Tyler Street businesses spruce up their storefronts.
 
The City Council accepted a $30,000 grant from MassDevelopment's Transformative Development Initiative to pilot the program. The pilot will be providing commercial building owners with an incentive for the improvements such as lighting, windows, and doors.
 
The city will be using $30,000 of 40R funds — funds previously provided to the city through an affordable housing incentive by the state — to match those funds. In the first year, the pool of money is estimated to assist in the renovation of four or five storefronts.
 
"Out of the 10 TDI fellows and programs that are ongoing, we are the only one that doesn't have a storefront facade program," interim Community Development Director Bonnie Galant told the Council.
 
A business can apply for as much as $15,000 from the combined revenue funds for a project. The building owner, however, is required to fund at least 20 percent of the total project. 
 
Galant is also looking to place restrictions on ownership of the building for a number of years — so an owner can't take the money and then immediately sell it. 
 
"We were thinking of doing either a five or 10 years deferred payment loan, where we'd put a lien on the building in case something happens," Gallant said.
 
The ins and outs of the program haven't been fully fleshed out as of yet. Galant said she has been currently looking at similar programs elsewhere in the state to craft the guidelines. 
 
"We've got examples of other communities that already have storefront facade programs," she said. 
 
Facade programs have been successful in triggering private investment in numerous community in the Berkshires. The town of Adams put much emphasis on that program in the past and it led to renovations and private investment in numerous storefronts on Park Street. Years ago the Pittsfield had something similar through Downtown Pittsfield and local banks for North Street, but it was eventually phased out.
 
The goal of such a program is to eliminate blight and make the area more attractive, which in turn will spur even more private investment. Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi said the program will be combined with a future lighting and streetscape project, which together will lead to redevelopment of the corridor.
 
"This is something I am very excited about and will be supporting it," Morandi said.
 
The city's Morningside area was approved to be one of TDI districts in late 2014. Shortly after, the city was one of just a few to be appointed a fellow. Amewusika "Sika" Sedzro was brought on and is now entering her second year heading the redevelopment effort.
 
The first year was mostly planning focused and slowly more and more programs are being rolled out. The efforts range from as seemingly small as painting murals to working with developers to renovate key properties along Tyler Street. There are programs being planned to help homeowners and landlords improve the housing stock. And there are plans to increase the number of bus stops.
 
Overall, the program is a concentrated focus on one specific area to direct highly focused development efforts.
 
The facade program is only part of the overall efforts and is also a pilot. If the program works out well, the city would be looking to create a more permanent storefront improvement program.

Tags: facade program,   tyler street,   

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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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