Members of the Spruces park community and Higher Ground gathered for luncheon hosted by the non-profit at Congregational Church.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Current and former residents of the Spruces Mobile Home Park serenaded the chairman of the Selectmen on Sunday on the occasion of her birthday.
But it was Jane Allen who brought the present for everyone in the room: the gift of information.
Allen and many of the Spruces family were at First Congregational Church on Sunday for a luncheon hosted by the local non-profit Higher Ground.
She rose to give the upward of 50 "Sprucians" an update on the administration of the $6 million federal Hazard Mitigation Grant the town received to relocate the flood-prone park and help relocate the residents.
"It's good news," Allen said. "Don't worry about the tears.
"[Monday] night at the Selectmen's meeting, we're going to be hiring a relocation advisory agent. That is the person who is going to be working with all of you, as far as the relocation — all of the complicated details that you have been asking questions about."
The relocation agent is the person who will be responsible for dispensing the residents' share of the grant money.
It is a private matter between residents and FEMA just how much each of the residents will be eligible for under terms of the grant. The households who remain in the park have been in limbo wondering just how much federal money they will have to work with as they wait to figure out where they will move with the park's closure.
On Sunday afternoon, some of those anxieties were put aside briefly as the residents had a chance to dine on lasagna, salad and carrot cake with many of their current and former neighbors from the retirement community.
The luncheon was attended by many of the volunteers who helped create Higher Ground in the wake of 2011's Tropical Storm Irene including elected officials Allen, Selectman Thomas Sheldon and Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams.
In addition to hearing the news about Monday's Board of Selectmen meeting, the residents also received an invitation to a Sunday, Jan. 26, benefit concert for Higher Ground.
That afternoon at the Williams Inn, Judith Reichert and Stephen Dankner will perform the music of Johnny Mercer in a program titled "Come Rain or Come Shine."
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Williamstown Affordable Housing Trust Hears Objections to Summer Street Proposal
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Neighbors concerned about a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week raised the specter of a lawsuit against the town and/or Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity.
"If I'm not mistaken, I think this is kind of a new thing for Williamstown, an affordable housing subdivision of this size that's plunked down in the middle, or the midst of houses in a mature neighborhood," Summer Street resident Christopher Bolton told the Affordable Housing Trust board, reading from a prepared statement, last Wednesday. "I think all of us, the Trust, Habitat, the community, have a vested interest in giving this project the best chance of success that it can have. We all remember subdivisions that have been blocked by neighbors who have become frustrated with the developers and resorted to adversarial legal processes.
"But most of us in the neighborhood would welcome this at the right scale if the Trust and Northern Berkshire Habitat would communicate with us and compromise with us and try to address some of our concerns."
Bolton and other residents of the neighborhood were invited to speak to the board of the trust, which in 2015 purchased the Summer Street lot along with a parcel at the corner of Cole Avenue and Maple Street with the intent of developing new affordable housing on the vacant lots.
Currently, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, which built two homes at the Cole/Maple property, is developing plans to build up to five single-family homes on the 1.75-acre Summer Street lot. Earlier this month, many of the same would-be neighbors raised objections to the scale of the proposed subdivision and its impact on the neighborhood in front of the Planning Board.
The Affordable Housing Trust board heard many of the same arguments at its meeting. It also heard from some voices not heard at the Planning Board session.
And the trustees agreed that the developer needs to engage in a three-way conversation with the abutters and the trust, which still owns the land, to develop a plan that is more acceptable to all parties.
Developer David Traggorth asked the trustees to make the contribution from its coffers to help unlock an additional $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment building at the south end of the Cable Mills site.
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The donors, who wish to remain anonymous, say the gift reflects their desire to not only support Williams but also President Maud S. Mandel's strategic vision and plan for the college.
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Neighbors of a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week asked the Planning Board to take a critical look at the project, which the residents say is out of scale to the neighborhood. click for more
The Select Board and Planning Board this week clashed over a proposal that would add to the town charter a mechanism to ensure compliance with the foundation of town government. click for more