Debra Turnbull, assistant to the town manager, and Allen Caldwell, project superintendent for NEI General Contracting hold the final building permits issued Friday for Cable Mills.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Cable Mills redevelopment on Water Street took another step forward on Friday when the town issued the final building permits for the development of 61 housing units in the historic mill building.
The project superintendent from NEI General Contracting picked up the paper work on Friday morning.
The contractor started work on the project earlier this fall, utilizing partial permits issued by the town's Building Department.
"The partial building permit allowed them to get a jump start," Town Manager Peter Fohlin said on Friday. "They started with demolition, which they have to do."
Fohlin said he was not aware of work that was being delayed in anticipation of the final permits.
"This was a well-coordinated effort between the architects, the contractor and the building department," he said.
Developer Mitchell Properties of Boston has told the town the project is on track for a December, 2015 opening.
When it is completed, Phase 1 of the Cable Mills property project will include 13 income-sensitive units among the 61.
That affordable housing dimension of the project, along the historic preservation and the creation of a river walk along the adjacent Green River, led to the town supporting the project to the tune of $1.5 million in Community Preservation Act funds.
Mitchell Properties estimates the total project cost at $27 million.
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Williamstown Fin Comm Hears from Police Department, Library
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Police Chief Michael Ziemba last week explained to the Finance Committee why an additional full-time officer needs to be added to the fiscal year 2027 budget.
The 13 officers in the Williamstown Police Department are insufficient to maintain the department's minimal threshold of two officers on patrol per shift without employing overtime and relying on the chief and the WPD's one detective to cover patrol shifts if an officer is sick or using personal time, Ziemba explained.
Some of that coverage was provided in the past by part-time officers, but that option was taken away by the commonwealth's 2020 police reform act.
"We lost two part-timers a couple of years ago," Ziemba told the Fin Comm. "They were part-time officers, but they also worked the desk. So between the desk and the cruiser shifts, they were working 40 hours a week, the two of them. We lost them to police reform.
"We have seen that we're struggling to cover shifts voluntarily now. We're starting to order people to cover time-off requests. … We don't have the flexibility when somebody goes out for a surgery or sickness or maternity leave to cover that without overtime. An additional position, I believe, would alleviate that."
Ziemba bolstered his case by benchmarking the force against like-sized communities in Berkshire County.
Adams, for example, has 19 full-time officers and handled 9,241 calls last year with a population just less than 8,000 and a coverage area of 23 square miles, Ziemba said. By comparison, Williamstown has 13 officers, handled 15,000 calls for service, has a population of about 8,000 (including staff and students at Williams College) and covers 46.9 square miles.
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Police Chief Michael Ziemba last week explained to the Finance Committee why an additional full-time officer needs to be added to the fiscal year 2027 budget. click for more