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The current parking lot will be reoriented with the new extension from Crane Avenue in Pittsfield.

Rail Trail Extension To Pittsfield Passes 75 Percent Design Phase

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The blue line is where the proposed rail trail will cross Crane Avenue. To the left, on the  south side of Crane, a new parking lot will be created.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city has passed the 75 percent design milestone on the extension of the Ashulwilticook Rail Trail and is now starting the permitting process.
 
"The bike path is on schedule and on budget. We are at the 75 percent design phase for the project, which is a required milestone in the process. We just recently saw a draft of a notice of intent for the wetland permit, which is required for the project," Parks and Open Spaces Manager James McGrath said this week. 
 
McGrath said things are on track for construction in April 2019. Last year, the city's engineers, Fuss & O'Neill, were asked to redesign its earlier versions to circumvent commercial properties.
 
From its terminus at the Berkshire Mall, the plan now brings the trail closer to Route 8 to limit potential conflicts between the truck traffic on the Unistress property and users of the trail.
 
On the Crane Avenue end, a proposed parking lot was moved from its originally eyed location in the middle of the John's Building Supply property to across the street, behind Aldi's and Tractor Supply.
 
"We were concerned about how that would impact John's Building Supply. It is a tight site in the way vehicles circulate in and out and often these are contractor vehicles so they are larger, or even on occasion they have deliveries on 18-wheelers and the turning radius is wide and large," McGrath said.
 
McGrath said where the original parking lot was, one of the entrances and exits for vehicles would have been blocked off -- leaving just one way in and out of the property. That would require trucks to back in, causing traffic issues, and giving vehicles little space to maneuver. McGrath said the new orientation moves the parking across from there and a safe crossing will be added for people to cross Crane Avenue.
 
Moving north, the bike trail itself will still cut through John's Building Supply and make its way toward the mall. It will then circumvent where Unistress is using property, cross the road to the Berkshire County House of Corrections, and then weave back to the existing overflow parking lot. Additional parking in that area will be construction and the trail will run alongside the existing overflow lot. The current spots in the main parking area now will be moved and the trail will cut through where those are, wrap around the bathroom facility, and then reconnect with the existing trail.
 
McGrath said the redesign has been agreed to by all parties. Fuss and O'Neill is working with the state on finalizing the specifics. 
 
The city funded the design and the state is paying for the actual construction. This summer, the city will be working to get permits from the Conservation Commissions in both Lanesborough and in Pittsfield and securing easements from a half-dozen property owners for permanent or temporary use of their land.
 
"They take a fair bit of time to get underway," McGrath said of the easements from the Berkshire Mall, the Baker Hill Road District, the state's Division of Capital Assets Management, Unistress, Allendale Shopping, Miller Petroleum, and John's Building.
 
"We're on schedule for an April 2019 construction. It will be bid in the winter," McGrath said.
 
The extension has been in the works for six years. In 2012, the city had made a pitch to get construction funding for it but did not secure it. The state then followed shortly with a $2.5 million allocation through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program for it.
 
The trail has been slowly extending over time. Last year, the state cut the ribbon on another 1.2-mile extension to Adams' Lime Street. This 1.5-mile addition to the south will add to the 12.2 miles already open. Projects to expand farther north are expected to follow and conceptual plans to continue through Pittsfield to the south have been previously developed.

Tags: Ashuwillticook Rail Trail,   bike path,   

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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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