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David LaPlante of LaPlante Appliance addresses the Williamstown Zoning Board of Appeals.
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Williamstown Zoning Board OKs Cole Avenue Business Move

By Stephen DravisPrint Story | Email Story

The former site of Leo's Luncheonette on Cole Avenue in Williamstown is the new home of LaPlante Appliance.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The former Leo's Luncheonette will have new life, but not as an eatery.

David LaPlante, the proprietor of LaPlante Appliance, last week sought and received the approval of the Zoning Board of Appeals to "daylight" his Cole Avenue operation.

LaPlante has been operating his repair shop in the basement of the same 248 Cole Ave. property that housed the long-time luncheonette.

When Leo's proprietor Donna LaBombard retired, it gave LaPlante an opportunity to raise his visibility, he said.

"Basically, we want to move into the light ... so my poor wife, Dawn, can get out of the basement," he told the ZBA.

While LaPlante himself spends much of the day on the road making house calls, his wife, who handles the scheduling for LaPlante Appliance, works in the office, he said.

"My wife takes care of answering the phones and stuff," LaPlante said. "My son and I are both out on the road.

"When we had that Thursday blizzard ... at about 2 o'clock, she calls me up and says, 'I just walked outside, and there's not a soul out anywhere.' I said, that's why we keep you away from the windows, so you don't realize how bad it is out there."

LaPlante said his upstairs location will make it more convenient for those customers who do drop off small appliances for repair, and he may offer a line of vacuum cleaners for sale at the store.

But in general, he said his appliance service center will have less of a need for parking than the site's previous incarnation.

"We're not that popular," LaPlante joked.

In other business on Thursday night, the ZBA planned a site visit to survey the renovation and expansion of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute campus.

 

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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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