Williams Hotel Project Percolating Through Town Boards

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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The Williamstown Conservation Commission last week reviewed a wetlands resource area delineation for land where Williams College wants to build a new hotel.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — More than a year after Williams College made public its internal discussions about building a small hotel on the bottom of Spring Street, the proposal is taking its first tentative steps in the permitting process.

Last Thursday, the Conservation Commission reviewed a vegetative wetlands delineation commissioned by the college from local engineering firm Guntlow & Associates.

On Tuesday evening, the Planning Board will hold a "community input session" to consider a possible expansion of the Village Business District to include the same parcel.

Currently the business district ends at Latham Street at the south end of Spring Street, according to a zoning map available on the town’s website.

In other business, the Planning Board will look at a development plan for the college's planned residence hall on Stetson Court, on land where Harper House now stands and from which Mather House will be moved on Wednesday morning.

The Con Comm decision did not concern any specific proposal for the site, per se. It merely laid the foundation for future proceedings before the panel.

The college likely would need to file a Notice of Intent and face a rigorous examination by the board of any proposed construction on site.

The delineation approved by the commission on Thursday would form the basis for those potential hearings.

The Con Comm last Thursday also decided to submit a request to the Community Preservation Committee for Community Preservation Act funds to support future improvements to land managed by the commission. The CPC will review applications this winter and make recommendations for funding to May's town meeting.


Tags: conservation commission,   motels, hotels,   Williams College,   

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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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