Adams To Seek Greylock Glen Developers In February
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Donna Cesan apprised the Selectmen on Wednesday of the progress she is making on various town projects. |
ADAMS, Mass. — Town officials hope to be courting prospective developers for the Greylock Glen this summer.
The town's Community Development Department is eyeing the end of February to release a request for proposals to develop a campground at the site.
Director of Community Development Donna Cesan told the Selectmen on Wednesday night that once it is released, she hopes the town can bring prospective developers to the site to help sell the proposal.
The request is looking for someone to build, manage and maintain a campground with heated cabins, tent areas, RV parking spaces and yurts. Meanwhile, the state and the town will continue developing hiking trails.
"We want to promote year-round accommodations," Cesan said while describing the cabins and added that there would be a market for guests during the Thunderbolt Ski Run.
Eventually the plan will include an amphitheater and conference building but after the town received no interest from developers in that, they switched their attention to doing the campground first. While drafting the request, town officials are looking for ways to sweeten the pot for developers including providing the contact for McCann Technical School so students can help build the accommodations.
Cesan said proposals that offer elements such as a summer job training program for teens or using students would provide a public good and would be looked highly upon. However, the developer would not be required to choose those options.
The department is also looking to nix the idea of installing kiosk parking meters in the new parking lot behind the former Albert's Hardware. According to Town Administrator Jonathan Butler, the installation fee is $11,000 and it is unlikely the costs would ever be recouped in parking fees.
The Selectmen, however, said they like the idea of kiosk parking meters but agreed that particular parking lot may not be the spot to try it. They agreed to put the installation on hold but suggested that the town pursue the kiosks for the Adams Visitors Center Parking lot.
Butler said he has reviewed many parking programs and feels that there should be a larger conversation about town. He said that in most cases, towns either lose money or break even with parking enforcement.
Cesan also said the department is ready to submit the 2013 Community Development Block Grant application. It will include more housing than this year's application, which focused on facade work. The town was not awarded funds this year.
The Selectmen said they would like to see the targeted areas expand to include more of Commercial Street for future applications.
Tags: CDBG, Greylock Glen, parking,
