Williamstown Community Preservation Panel OKs Five of Six Applicants

	The board rejected Minerva Arts Center's request for funds to create a park space at the Main Street site despite Executive Director Edward Cating's, left, presentation.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Community Preservation Committee on Tuesday approved five of the six applications it received for funding from the town's Community Preservation Act funds.

Just two projects received the unanimous support of all seven members of the eight-person panel in attendance.

And the committee deferred until its Feb. 25 meeting discussions of how much it will recommend town meeting allot to each of the projects it did approve.

Chairman Philip McKnight reiterated that it is likely the town will not have enough CPA funds to support all of the requests in their entirety.

The lone project that was defeated on Tuesday — a request for $175,000 to fund open space preservation at the planned Minerva Arts Center on Main Street — fell on a vote of 6-1.

Minerva Arts Executive Director Edward Cating made the case for the project to the committee, emphasizing that the money sought by the center would go toward community gardens, trails and outdoor improvements on the parcel the arts center intends to buy.

Cating presented the committee with documentation outlining the long-term sustainability of the planned arts center. But he said even if the full project is delayed because the capital campaign takes longer than expected, the improvements envisioned for the property would benefit Williamstown residents right away.

"We are in a position of acquiring this property to sustain it from current rents and leases and sales from the [secondhand store] there," Cating said. "We have time to [raise money]. We can sustain the facility as it is now. That's not our goal, but it's something we could do.

"We could use the existing property and later the improved property to give residents access to the land and the Hoosic River."

Nevertheless, committee member Jeffrey Thomas, who voted against all but two of the applications, pressed Cating on the issue of timing of the request.

"I would like to give you the opportunity to respond to the big question I have, which is I don't understand why you need this funding for open space for the project now," Thomas said. "I feel it's a cart-before-the-horse type of issue here. I want to invite you to make the argument why we should fund the open space component now while other aspects are in the formative stages.

Williamstown Historical Museum Director Sarah Currie addresses the committee.

Thomas was the lone dissenter in votes to approve to affordable housing requests on Tuesday's agenda: a $75,000 request from the Affordable Housing Trust to fund a pilot program of acquiring and rehabilitating single-family homes or duplexes that could be rented at affordable rates or sold below market value with deed restrictions; and a $100,000 request from Berkshire Housing Development Corp., the developer of the Highland Woods senior housing project planned for land donated by Williams College.

Thomas was joined by Chairman Philip McKnight in voting against a $75,000 request from the Affordable Housing Trust for unrestricted funds that would allow the trust to fund unforeseen projects in a timely fashion without waiting for town meeting each spring.

Last year, McKnight argued against a $200,000 allocation of CPA funds to the trust on the reasoning that the committee normally approves funds for specific projects.

Two projects passed without objection of any of the members present: a $17,571 request from the Williamstown Historical Museum to support conservation and curatorial research and a $68,000 request from the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation to help preserve 220 acres of farmland under the commonwealth's Agriculture Preservation Restriction program.

The Community Preservation Act was enacted in Williamstown in 2002. Properties are levied a 2 percent sales tax surcharge (exempting the first $100,000 in valuation) to support the CPA fund, which is augmented by state matching funds.
Town Meeting ultimately decides whether to make the allocations recommended by the CPC.

Hancock Town Meeting Votes to Strike Meme Some Found 'Divisive'

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
10:40PM / Monday, May 06, 2024

Hancock town meeting members Monday vote on a routine item early in the meeting.

HANCOCK, Mass. — By the narrowest of margins Monday, the annual town meeting voted to strike from the town report messaging that some residents described as, "inflammatory," "divisive" and unwelcoming to new residents.

 

On a vote of 50-48, the meeting voted to remove the inside cover of the report as it appeared on the town website and in printed versions distributed prior to the meeting and at the elementary school on Monday night.

 

The text, which appeared to be a reprinted version of an Internet meme, read, "You came here from there because you didn't like it there, and now you want to change here to be like there. You are welcome here, only don't try to make here like there. If you want to make here like there, you shouldn't have left there in the first place."

 

After the meeting breezed through the first 18 articles on the town meeting warrant agenda with hardly a dissenting vote, a member rose to ask if it would be unreasonable for the meeting to vote to remove the meme under Article 19, the "other business" article.

 

"No, you cannot remove it," Board of Selectmen Chair Sherman Derby answered immediately.

 

After it became clear that Moderator Brian Fairbank would entertain discussion about the meme, Derby took the floor to address the issue that has been discussed in town circles since the report was printed earlier this spring.

 

"Let me tell you about something that happened this year," Derby said. "The School Department got rid of Christmas. And they got rid of Columbus Day. Now it's Indigenous People's Day.