BOSTON, Mass. — As expected, the Massachusetts School Building Authority on Wednesday gave the green light for the Mount Greylock Regional School addition/renovation project.
The MSBA Board of Directors unanimously approved a grant of $32,491,074 for the project, Mount Greylock School Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Greene reported in a Friends of the Mt. Greylock Building Project Facebook post.
"[The MSBA directors] were, once again, highly complimentary of our education program, which is the foundation of the building design," Greene wrote in her post.
Earlier this month, the School Committee approved the appropriation of a $64.8 million debt to pay for the project with two contingencies: first, that MSBA would grant its final approval and, second, that the the district's member towns will vote to authorize a debt exclusion to pay the local share, about $32.3 million.
The School Committee decided to hold its vote in advance of the MSBA board meeting so the towns could move forward warning an election. Williamstown had previously expressed an interest in holding its debt exclusion vote on the same day as the commonwealth's presidential primary.
On Monday, the Williamstown Board of Selectmen authorized a warrant for the debt exclusion vote on Tuesday, March 1. Lanesborough's Selectmen set its debt exclusion vote for March 15.
In addition, Lanesborough will hold a Feb. 23 special town meeting to discuss the school building project.
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Williamstown Select Board Inks MOU on Mountain Bike Trail
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A planned mountain bike trail cleared a hurdle last week when the Select Board OK'd a memorandum of understanding with the New England Mountain Bike Association.
NEMBA Purple Valley Chapter representative Bill MacEwen was back before the board on April 22 to ask for its signoff to allow the club to continue developing a planned 20- to 40-mile network on the west side of town and into New York State.
That ambitious plan is still years down the road, MacEwen told the board.
"The first step is what we call the proof of concept," he said. "That is a very small loop. It might technically be a two-loop trail. It's a proof of concept for a couple of reasons. One is so we can start very, very small and learn about everything from soil condition to what it's like to organize our group of volunteers. And, then, importantly, it allows the community to have a mountain bike trail in Williamstown very quickly.
"The design for this trail has been completed. We have already submitted this initial design to [Williams College] and the town as well, I believe. It's very, very small and very basic. That's what we consider Phase 0. From there, the grant we were awarded from the International Mountain Bike Association is really where we will develop our network plan."
MacEwen characterized the plan as incremental. According to a timeline NEMBA showed the board, it hopes to do the "proof of concept" trail in spring 2025 and hopes to open phase one of the network by the following fall.
Williams and the Town of Williamstown are two of the landowners that NEMBA plans to work with on building the trail. The list also includes Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, the Berkshire Natural Resource Council and the State of New York.
The Charter Review Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to endorse an amended version of the compliance provision it drafted to be added to the Town Charter. click for more
Developer David Traggorth asked the trustees to make the contribution from its coffers to help unlock an additional $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment building at the south end of the Cable Mills site.
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The donors, who wish to remain anonymous, say the gift reflects their desire to not only support Williams but also President Maud S. Mandel's strategic vision and plan for the college.
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Neighbors of a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week asked the Planning Board to take a critical look at the project, which the residents say is out of scale to the neighborhood. click for more