Lenox Briefs: Selectmen Extend Housing Option, Talk Pipeline, Apple Squeeze
 Selectmen Ken Fowler and Ed Lane at Wednesday's Board of Selectmen meeting. |
The agreement with Community Development Corp. of South Berkshires sets the stage for the construction of a 50-unit housing project with both market-rate and affordable housing at the intersection of Route 7/20 and Housatonic.
According to Chairman Channing Gibson, the project is a complicated one because it requires not just a mix of affordable units and market rate, but also private and public funds. The CDC is working with potential developers and funding is required from the state.
"It really hinges on the availability of state funding," said Town Manager Christopher Ketchen.
Earlier this year, a special town meeting vote gave the CDC an option to buy, which was one step in the process. Ketchen said the next two benchmarks are securing state funding and permitting.
In other business, Chamber of Commerce Director Ralph Petillo said he is hoping Church Street will be more involved in this year's Apple Squeeze on Sept. 27 and 28.
"We've been trying for years to re-include Church Street in the Apple Squeeze," Petillo said, and this year he has the plan to do it.
He received approval from the Board of Selectmen to close upper Church Street from Housatonic to Walker Street. With bands and a farmers market, he hopes to create a walking loop from Main Street onto Church Street to help the merchants there.
However, the road closure will lose parking so he has been asking nearby organizations — such as Shakespeare & Co. — to help out.
"If we do close it off, we'll leave one full lane open if fire or police need to go there," he said.
Selectman Ken Fowler agreed that Church Street should be included more in the annual festival. The festival is in its 35th years and features and array of vendors.
"You are looking for a lot of foot traffic and Church Street has been missing that," Fowler said.
Also on Wednesday, the selectmen restated their opposition to the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline. Now, the board knows that the likely proposal will go through the town's watershed and Kennedy Park.
"I am really upset that it going through the watershed," said Selectman David Roche. "I've seen pipelines before. They are huge. They are wide ... We can't get them out of the town. We can try. But we got to get them out of the watershed."
The board has been against the pipeline since the members first heard about it and Fowler says he hasn't heard a single resident speak in favor of it.
"There is real outrage in the community," Ketchen said. "People are really concerned about their homes and their property."
Tags: affordable housing, CDC Southern Berkshires, gas pipeline,
