Future of Electronic Billboard in Pittsfield Remains Uncertain

The Community Development approved both Lamar Advertising's site plan for an electronic billboard and a petition to the City Council to change how billboards are presented.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Community Development Board has essentially passed the decision about the installation of an electronic billboard onto the City Council.

On Tuesday, the board gave Lamar Advertising the site plan approval to move forward with installing an electronic billboard at the intersection of East and Elm Streets.

However, the board is also sending a recommendation to the City Council to change the zoning for billboards to require a special permit.

Since that change was publicized before Tuesday's approval, the building permits for all new billboards are frozen until the council renders a decision, according to City Planner C.J. Hoss.

"The site plan was approved but essentially, they can't build the billboard until it is approved or denied," Hoss said.

If the City Council denies the zoning change, that will allow the company to receive the proper building permits with no extra hassle. If the City Council accepts the changes, the company would have to go through the special permit process, which is recommended to have conditions that would be cause for denial.

The City Council is the granting authority for special permits.

Initially, the Community Development Board wanted to make it a condition that all new billboards or off-site signs must be 500 feet away from an intersection or crosswalk. On Tuesday, the board loosened the language to say they are "recommended" to be that far away.

"Let it be evaluated by not only this board but the City Council, as the granting authority, would have the final say," said board member David Hathaway.

The change is that as of now, companies have to meet only some already written conditions to construct the billboard. With those conditions met, the board has little to no authority to deny a proposal on a case-by-case basis. By implementing a special permit process, the City Council has the ability to add or remove conditions as well as outright deny projects.

"Site plan review right now is essentially is additional conditions. It is a by-right use with additional conditions," Hoss said.

With the ability to implement conditions based on the individual applications, the board backed off the requirement of setback from the intersections. If they hadn't, 49 percent of the currently allowed areas — including that of the electronic billboard proposal — would no longer have been allowed. Since, it is "recommended" the council has the authority to deny the permit on that basis as well as approve less of a setback.

Ward 3 City Councilor Nicholas Caccamo continues to oppose the billboard proposed for the intersection of East and Elm Streets.

Matthew Duddy, Lamar's vice president and general manager, provided images of the proposal and video of other billboards they have. The two-sided display will feature not only advertisements but will also serve to provide weather alerts and public safety information, he said.

"It is a community function as well," Duddy said.

The sign is proposed to be 11-feet by 23-feet and change displays every 10 seconds. Duddy said the company has recently made significant investment on its Berkshire County properties.

He said dozens of old billboards have been removed and every still-standing unit was reduced in size. The quality of the billboards have also been improved, he said.

"We've made some significant investments in the community," he said.

There isn't a demand for more billboards, he said, but there is demand for the electronic ones. He said customers see those elsewhere and have been asking for it locally. The East and Elm Street site has been one they've eyed for a number of years for the county's first.

But, approval for the sign continues to be difficult. The board voiced significant safety concerns with the proposal when it was first presented to them in March. And Ward 3 Councilor Nicholas Caccamo said he had received multiple phone calls from residents worried about it.

At that March meeting, the developers hadn't had sufficient information regarding the proposal and tabled it. A month later, the board began the process to change the zoning.

Billboard Zoning Petition

Billboard Memorandum - May12014

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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:04AM / Sunday, April 05, 2026

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing. 

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said. 

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today." 

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback. 

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director. 

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care.  Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires. 

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs. 

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said. 

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.