SteepleCats Receive Community Certificate of Appreciation

By Chris AlianoNorth Adams SteepleCats Report
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams SteepleCats organization wrapped up its 11th season of play with a return to the postseason, an array of individual honors, and a re-establishment as one of the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s most successful franchises in summer 2012.

But before the calendar turned to the New Year, the SteepleCats franchise received another local honor, as the organization in December was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for participating in the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's National Night Out activities.

The honor was bestowed to the SteepleCats in citing the team's community involvement. The team and the town have worked hand and hand toward a number of endeavors, including sending Slider, the official team mascot, to community events, as well as providing additional assistance in other local events. Slider was also given a certificate for his role in National Night Out.

Entering its 12th season this coming summer, the SteepleCats and team President Daniel E. Bosley will continue to take on a bigger role in community activities. Those efforts include sending Slider out more so than ever before to local businesses and events, as well as participating in more community activities.



Recently, Slider made an appearance at Community Day in nearby Stamford, Vt., marking an example of the franchise hoping to extend its roots beyond the North Adams boundaries.

"It is fulfilling to be part of so many community activities," Bosley said. "Its into the core function of the SteepleCats' goals of taking an active role toward making life better and a little more entertaining in the northern Berkshire community."

Season tickets for the 2013 campaign are available at www.steeplecats.com, as well as at a number of local businesses: Val's Variety Store in Adams, Berkshire Emporium and Man's World Styling Salon in North Adams, and Billmont's Country Store in Stamford.

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Williamstown Planning Board Narrowing in on Subdivision Bylaw Changes

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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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