Spruces Owners Drop Case Against Williamstown, State

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The owners of the Spruces Mobile Home Park have withdrawn their lawsuit against the town, state and residents.

According to Town Manager Peter Fohlin, the Aug. 9 hearing in Berkshire Superior Court has been canceled after Morgan Management dropped the case at the request of the town.

"The town and the residents of the Spruces have expended every effort to recover every home possible and to remove or secure those that are uninhabitable. These diligent efforts continue to effectively accomplish virtually everything meaningful requested in the motion for injunctive relief," Fohlin said in an email on Tuesday. "It would not be in the best interests of the Spruces residents to further pursue resolution in court."

Tropical Storm Irene ravaged the park last August and left some 300 residents homeless. Over the following months, residents slowly returned to the park as their homes were certified as habitable while others moved elsewhere. A majority of the park's 226 mobile homes could not be reoccupied.

The situation triggered heated debates between the town and the park's owners — each pointing the finger at one another as to why residents were unable to return to their homes. Even Gov. Deval Patrick called on both Morgan Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to "step up" and resolve the problems.

The company filed an injunction last November against the town, state attorney general's office and Spruces residents to bring the matter into court, which was expected to explicitly lay out the responsibilities of each party.

Morgan Management requested eight resolutions: halt further infrastructure work until a plan for the park's future was developed, residents 30 days to state their intentions, allow the company to take steps to consolidate the park, force residents living in uninhabitable homes out, have residents remove abandoned trailers in 30 days, reprieve from state pressures to take immediate action, have residents remove "non-ordinary trash" and any other order that would help the situation.

However, the case was delayed multiple times with the latest expected court date of Aug. 9. Now most of the items are no longer issues, according to Fohlin. As for the future of the park, Fohlin said the town has developed "a constructive and respectful relationship" with the owners to work out solutions together.

"The town and Morgan Management, along with the hold of the mortgage on The Spruces, have been in continuous good faith discussions about the future of the park and its residents," Fohlin said. "Our shared goal is safe, sanitary and secure housing out of harm's way and without worry for residents who continue to live in the Spruces or have been displaced by Tropical Storm Irene."

With the withdrawal, Fohlin said both the town and the company can devote more resources to the future rather than "costly litigation."

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Tags: demolition,   Irene,   lawsuit,   Spruces,   

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Williams Seeking Town Approval for New Indoor Practice Facility

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week gave Williams College the first approval it needs to build a 55,000-square foot indoor athletic facility on the north side of its campus.
 
Over the strenuous objection of a Southworth Street resident, the board found that the college's plan for a "multipurpose recreation center" or MRC off Stetson Road has adequate on-site parking to accommodate its use as an indoor practice facility to replace Towne Field House, which has been out of commission since last spring and was demolished this winter.
 
The college plans a pre-engineered metal that includes a 200-meter track ringing several tennis courts, storage for teams, restrooms, showers and a training room. The athletic surface also would be used as winter practice space for the school's softball and baseball teams, who, like tennis and indoor track, used to use the field house off Latham Street.
 
Since the planned structure is in the watershed of Eph's Pond, the college will be before the Conservation Commission with the project.
 
It also will be before the Zoning Board of Appeals, on Thursday, for a Development Plan Review and relief from the town bylaw limiting buildings to 35 feet in height. The new structure is designed to have a maximum height of 53 1/2 feet and an average roof height of 47 feet.
 
The additional height is needed for two reasons: to meet the NCAA requirement for clearance above center court on a competitive tennis surface (35 feet) and to include, on one side, a climbing wall, an element also lost when Towne Field House was razed.
 
The Planning Board had a few issues to resolve at its March 12 meeting. The most heavily discussed involved the parking determination for a use not listed in the town's zoning bylaws and a decision on whether access from town roads to the building site in the middle of Williams' campus was "functionally equivalent" to the access that would be required under the town's subdivision rules and regulations.
 
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