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Pittsfield Subcommittee Approves Housing TIE Agreements

The exemptions recommended last week will help developers create market-rate housing on East Street and Tyler Street.

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Community Preservation Funds Approved for Housing Relief

The Community Preservation Committee on Monday approved the use of more than $100,000 to help bolster emergency home security funds.

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North Adams Planners OK High End Union Street Housing

The Planning Board on Monday approved Moresi Commercial Investments' request Monday for a change of use to operate mixed occupancy of commercial and residential use in an I-2 zone at 26 Union St.

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Soldier On Permanent Women Veterans Housing to Open This Winter

Soldier On knows the importance of having a home and with the near completion of the village for women veterans this sentiment will be accessible to all who have served in the military, not just the men.

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Adams, Economic Officials Explain 40R Housing Bylaw

But Tuesday's more than two-hour meeting explaining step by step the statute, the definitions, and how a Smart Growth Overlay District would work seemed to tamp down some of the controversy.

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Pittsfield Councilors Seek New Funding Source For 'At Home' Program

The four city councilors who killed the mayor's home improvement program are seeking a resurrection. Councilors Christopher Connell, Melissa Mazzeo, Kevin Morandi, and Anthony Simonelli filed a joint petition calling on the mayor to organize a working group to find a different funding source. The four had voted against the program which eyed to use $250,000 of the General Electric Economic Development Fund to help residents make exterior repairs to their homes.

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Williamstown Planners Decline to Back Dwelling Bylaw Amendment

When the chair opened the meeting to comments from the floor, the discussion turned to the detached accessory dwelling unit bylaw the board developed throughout the 2018-19 meeting cycle.

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Williamstown Planners Recommend Dwelling Bylaw Amendments

The Planning Board has recommended two articles to town meeting that would ask residents to consider zoning amendments that would allow the implementation of detached accessory dwelling units

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Council Sends Tyer's 'At Home' Program Back For More Work

The City Council sent Mayor Linda Tyer's proposed home improvement back for further consideration. The mayor had petitioned for $250,000 from the Pittsfield Economic Development Fund to start "At Home In Pittsfield," a program to help residents make exterior home improvements or purchase fixer-uppers and make those improvements.

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Williamstown Planning Board Advances ADU Bylaw Proposals

On a vote of 4-1, the planners agreed on a proposal that would create the potential for more detached accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, in the town of 7,800.

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Old Issues Raised Anew at Williamstown Planning Board Forum

And most of the public comments in the more than two-hour session at Williamstown Elementary School concerned issues with which the board has been grappling for months.

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Pittsfield Council Accepts Grant, Easements, For Habitat's Condo Project

Habitat has put together more pieces to bring the Gordon Deming project to fruition Tuesday night. The City Council authorized the acceptance of an easement and a $425,000 state grant on Tuesday allowing the long-awaited project to move forward. The $1.1 million project has been in the works for about a decade when Berkshire Gas first donated property on Deming Street. That building has been torn down and Habitat is now planning a six-unit condominium project in its place.

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Williamstown Planning Board Plans Wednesday Info Session on Bylaw Proposals

After months of debate and public input at its regular monthly meetings, the panel has crafted two proposals that allow more flexibility to homeowners who want to put a second or third dwelling unit on a residential lot.

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Shutdown Could Impact Renters, Landlords Who Rely on Section 8 Vouchers

Local landlords and recipients of Section 8 housing assistance could start feeling the pinch if the shutdown of the federal government continues much longer.

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Pittsfield Accepts $125K Grant to Help St. Mary's Project

The state released a $125,000 allocation to move the St. Mary's project along. The City Council accepted the grant from the state on Tuesday and the money will fund upgraded infrastructure to the project and preserve the terracotta roofing and campanile tower. The project is being undertaken by CT Management and is transforming the St. Mary the Morningstar property into 29 market-rate housing units.

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Williamstown Planning Board Fields Questions on Housing Bylaw

In fact, town meeting passed an accessory dwelling unit bylaw in 2012. One problem is that the bylaw was so limited in scope and restrictive that it has seldom been used; just four ADUs have been permitted since the 2012 vote.

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Williamstown Planning Board Debates 'Owner-Occupied' Component of Bylaw

After months of discussions at full hearings, on social media and in a series of "community coffees" the board instituted earlier this year, the fundamental disagreement remains over whether to require owner-occupation at homes where a second or third unit is added to a primary residence.

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Williamstown Select Board Discusses Planning Board's Accessory Dwelling Unit Initiative

For several meetings, the Planning Board has wrestled with the question of whether second or third dwelling units on a residential property should be allowed only if the property's owner resides at the address.

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