image description — The Community Preservation Committee has until March 28 to decide its yearly allocation recommendations for local projects. The major request this year is for the Williamstown Community Preschool to purchase the Methodist church.

Williamstown Preschool Asks Town to Help Buy Church

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
03:20AM / Wednesday, February 02, 2011Print Story | Email Story

Katie Swayby and Tracy McConnell explained long-term financial plans to keep the former Methodist church in tip-top shape if the preschool is helped to purchase it.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Community Preschool made its final pitch and now has to wait to see its future.

The preschool is hoping the Community Preservation Committee will recommend spending $250,000 toward buying United Methodist Church, which is for sale.

The school has operated out of the church’s property for nearly 40 years and now is hoping the committee will use some of its $469,361 budget to help purchase the entire building.

The school pitched the plan Tuesday for the second time and now the project is in the hands of the committee, which needs to make a decision by March 28 for it to go before town meeting. A total of seven projects are vying for the funds.

"There is $1.4 million of great ideas on the table today," said committee member Christopher Winters. "But this is not a competition and there is a virtue in saving."

The committee does not need to use all of its budget this year and can hold onto funds for future projects. The preschool could cost nearly half of the available funds.

“We have an updated project cost of $456,165 and we're assuming a purchase price of the church of $325,000 but that's still in negotiations," said Katie Swayby, preschool board member, at Tuesday's meeting.

"After the community preservation act put in $250,000, we'd be putting in about $206,000 of our own money. This would leave a little over $100,000 in our reserves which we feel is necessary."

Members working on the purchase gave a detailed proposal to the committee that included maintenance budgets, expansion plans, use of space and the school's future.

If the school succeeds in purchasing the property, an additional toddler room would be built and increase enrollment by nine students.

"We have a waiting list so we know there are toddlers waiting," Sue Hamblin, school director, said. "Every year there is about 25 families on that waiting list."

School officials also showed how they would use each room in the church for school activities. Maintaining the building should not be a problem, they said. The school will embark on a capital campaign for later renovations and pay $12,000 a year to a maintenance fund.

Another question the committee had regarded an increase in traffic and parking. According to Jamie Art, a local attorney and parent, the nearby Williamstown Savings Bank was unconcerned with the additional traffic as long as it does not interfere when the bank is open. Art expressed confidence that the school would work with parents to ensure that was not an issue.

"The bank isn't worried about the quick drop-offs and pickups or anything during nonbanking hours," Art said. "The preschool manages to do a good job with the parking that is available."

Speaking on behalf of the church, Ronald Turbin said the congregation supports the preschool taking over because it would prevent the building from being sold and demolished. The Williamstown and North Adams Methodist congregations recently joined and put both their buildings on the market to pay for a new structure.

"We're willing to negotiate a price well below the appraisal to do our part in helping them," Turbin told the committee.

Supporting the preschool could also help another proposal set forth by the Methodists at no immediate cost to the town. The congregants are asking for funds to remove its historic organ, store it and put it back together at the new location. However, church officials do not know when a new building will be found.

The organ could stay on the property and save about $200 a month in storage costs.

The committee did not show much support for the organ preservation proposal nor did it seem keen on preserving the Sand Springs pool (which will not open this year) or a proposal to purchase the Wylde property as a way to access Bridge's Pond.

The committee did support committing funds to repair the chimney on the 1753 House in Field Park.

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Your Comments

iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.

I would prefer that Williamstown make an attempt to use its Community Preservation funds to renovate Mount Greylock High School. If it not currently meet the criteria, then get the legislature to amend the law. I'm sure other communities would agree! The Town should not get into the business of subsidizing private businesses.
from: Alternative Plan	on: 02-02-2011 10:44AM I Agree (5) - I Disagree (36)

Renovating Mount Greylock with CPA funds is most certainly not an option according to the law. So get to work on changing the law if you'd like. But for now, keep in mind the Preschool is in no way a "business." It's a small nonprofit that is the only full-time daycare in town that serves working families regardless of their professional affiliation and doesn't have an entrance lottery.
from: CM	on: 02-02-2011 12:55PM I Agree (29) - I Disagree (5)
Editor: I'd also point out that CPA funds would fall far short of the millions required to repair or construct any school.
I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Wasn't at least $800,000 spent from Community Preservation for St. Raphael's? That did not deplete the fund either. The renovation need not be done all at once. Quite a bit of work could be done renovating with matching state or federal funds, More funds keep coming in, and the Community Preservation tax is at least a progressive tax, the first $XXXX of a home's assessed value is exempt from paying this prop 2and 1/2 override tax. Why not the historic preservation of a 1950's high school? Some funds could also be used as recreation funds to upgrade school grounds.
from: Alyternative Plan	on: 02-02-2011 04:40PM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (28)

It takes a village. The Williamstown Community Preschool has been serving thousands of families for thirty-nine years. This village needs to support those who have supported this village for all these years.
from: Billsville resident	on: 02-02-2011 05:27PM I Agree (36) - I Disagree (2)

What kind of organ is it?
from: Organman	on: 02-02-2011 07:41PM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Organ Man - Contact a member of the CPA. I happened to see the paper material that was provided by the applicant, (it was left in the public sphere at Town Hall), and the type and maker and some history were detailed within.
from: guy	on: 02-02-2011 11:11PM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

my house needs a new roof will the town give me the money
from: taxpayer	on: 02-03-2011 07:17AM I Agree (4) - I Disagree (18)

Hello! I live in Williamstown, work in N.Adams. Do you all want young couples/families moving to this area? I sure do. We spend a lot of money and join many different groups that keep these communities thriving...therefore we need affordable daycare. Please support the wonderful Williamstown Community Preschool.
from: Working Mom	on: 02-03-2011 09:59AM I Agree (28) - I Disagree (2)

The Williamstown Community Preschool is a community treasure for working parents. It quietly serves a totally necessary role in our community. To fail to support them, in the shadow of extreme over-support of the Youth Center (which is a nice, but not entirely necessary organization), would be horrendous. It is a shame the preschool was frozen out of the Youth Center negotiations; apparently because the youth center was going to b 2 stories high. Now that it is only to be 1 story high, it seems odd that these two organizations do not join forces. Why deal with 2 buildings when you could deal with one? So much duplication of services could be avoided - short-sighted.
from: working mom	on: 02-04-2011 09:20AM I Agree (12) - I Disagree (4)

I think the Williamstown Community Preschool and Williamstown Youth Center play similar roles, just for different age groups: the preschool serves primarily younger children and the youth center focuses primarily on older ones. Both play an incredibly important role for working families. The Preschool provides families with exceptional, affordable care and education, year-round, day-in and day-out, from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm, regardless of the parents' professional affiliation. For many families it is the only childcare and preschool option that works. The entire community benefits from it. Some directly. The rest of us, indirectly. It allows our teachers, police officers, therapists, veterinarians, doctors, nurses, and countless others to show up at work, confident their children are happy and thriving. If WCP is in jeopardy, so is the ability of working families to make a go of it in Williamstown and Northern Berkshire County.
from: Jamie Art	on: 02-04-2011 10:10AM I Agree (23) - I Disagree (1)

It's a shame the Youth Center and the Preschool can't do something jointly. It was short-sighted not to combine WES and the YC 10 years ago, and I'm afraid the same can and will be said of the failure to combine the YC and the preschool now. Neither one of these projects has begun yet. It's not too late.
from: williamstown parent	on: 02-04-2011 10:36AM I Agree (10) - I Disagree (6)

This preschool/ child care center has always had an excellent reputation and is used by a diverse group of parents. I would hate to see Williamstown lose this opportunity. They should support this project, it will be a worthwhile investment for the cost. It would be ideal if the building could be shared with other community groups that serve families.
from: Educator	on: 02-09-2011 11:58AM I Agree (7) - I Disagree (0)

Even though not having read all about the issue I feel compelled to make a general remark about funding any necessary and/or worthy projects. There are many examples through history - especially US history - in which it has been shown that debt ridden economies can be turned around and/or prevent the yoke of debt. The commongoodbank.com initiative shows how all the working monetary models of the past can be combined and help built a new community, city, society, democracy aided by a bank owned by its members to foster the common good rather than serving far away private interests. Some day soon WE will fund the roads, schools and things we want without fear of scarcity. It can be done. Mario
from: MarioVerde	on: 02-09-2011 12:47PM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Williamstown Studying Major Overhaul for Main Street

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:14AM / Wednesday, July 29, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town is working with a Worcester civil engineering firm to redesign Main Street with an eye toward a major project sometime in the next decade.

Community Development Director Andrew Groff was before the Select Board on Monday night to talk about Town Hall's use of a $500,000 state grant to do preliminary design on major improvements to that portion of Route 2 that runs from Water Street west to the Field Park rotary, through the middle of Williams College's campus.

Groff introduced the elected officials to Amanda Bazinet of Worcester's Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, who is helping the town to develop a plan for Main Street that would align with the commonwealth's Complete Streets Program.

"Our project goals, in addition to the increased pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, is just, in general, improving the sightlines and improving the intersection geometry," Bazinet said.

"Complete Streets … has a lot of different facets to it. As Andrew had mentioned, the goal is to improve the safety for all of the roadway users — not just the motorists. We're looking at improving it for pedestrians, bicyclists, anyone using a mobility device. We want to create streets that are safe for all ages and abilities to use. So, while bicyclists will still be allowed, legally, to use the roadway, we want to look at providing a separate bicycle accommodation along the corridor, whether it's a shared use path along both sides of the streets that is a little more accessible to young children or older people with disabilities to look at all transportation options."

One goal is to encourage "active transportation." The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, who the town hopes one day might fund the construction, has a "healthy transportation policy," Bazinet said.

That MassDOT funding would come through the Transportation Improvement Program, which is managed locally by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. The design work underway now is being done with an eye toward going after TIP funding years down the road.

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