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The former Hess gas station on Tyler Street could possibly be torn down and turned into green space.

Tyer Eyes Potential Purchase, Demolition of Blighted Gas Station

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayor Linda Tyer has a tentative plan to get rid of the eyesore of a former Hess gas station on Tyler Street.
 
In the proposed capital budget, Tyer is seeking funds to purchase the property and turn it into green space. The mayor said on Monday the parcel has been identified as an important piece of redevelopment on Tyler Street and the city has agreed to take ownership, provided the owners are willing to sell to MassDevelopment. 
 
"If so, the city has informed MassDevelopment that it is willing to take ownership of the property and, at least as an interim measure, demolish the existing structures and create a passive green space," Tyer wrote in an email. 
 
"We would then initiate a planning process with the community to determine the best long-term use of the property, be it development for a mix of commercial and housing or maintenance as green space."
 
The request is for $200,000 in the budget but Tyer said the owner's willingness to sell won't be known until mid-summer. Nonetheless, the request is aimed to put the city in a position to take over the property should it become available.
 
"By mid-year, we hope to have a better sense of the current owner's willingness to work with MassDevelopment and the city to improve the condition of this property for the Tyler Street Gateway," Tyer said.
 
The parcel has been noted multiple times as a banner carrier for blighted conditions in the city. The Transformative Development Initiative ran an online survey looking for input on the future of Tyler Street and the gas station was the most cited area of focus -- with many looking for it to become public use. During a recent election, a state representative candidate launched an improv cleanup of the parcel to spruce it up a bit. The barriers preventing entry have been painted colorfully and during the Better Block event last summer, the area was transformed into a temporary mini-golf course.
 
However, the station, owned by Marathon Petroleum Co., has yet to see a massive improvement. City officials said they've previously attempted to contact owners to find out their plans but decisions on what it they wanted to do with the parcel were undetermined. 
 
The city is partnering with MassDevelopment, which has a real estate arm to assist with projects such as this. The green space idea for the station could only be short-term. 
 
The project is only a small percentage of the $10,789,300 capital budget but given the focus the parcel has received in recent years from residents, may be one of the most notable.
 
The project goes along with another $2 million request to renovate Tyler Street. The Department of Community Development has been behind a redesign of the main road through Morningside for some time and the $2 million request would bring that to fruition.
 
Another $1.5 million is proposed to renovate the intersection of Woodlawn, Tyler Street, and Dalton Avenue -- a project that had once eyed to be done through federal grants, and then by a private development but to no avail.
 
The majority of the capital budget consists of equipment for various departments. The largest capital request is for $2.5 million for roads. That is the same amount as last year and is used for road construction. The Department of Public Services is also proposed to see an appropriation of $500,000 to make stormwater improvements -- the same amount allocated last year.
 
The department is also seeking to replace numerous vehicles include a one-ton hook lift all-season truck, one-ton utility body truck with plow, a one-ton pickup truck with and without a plow, all-wheel-drive sports utility vehicle, a one-ton van, a multi-purpose tractor with attachments, and a street sweeper.
 
The proposed capital budget includes resurfacing athletic courts, a project the city has undertaken over a number of years to improve surfaces of basketball courts throughout the park system. It also calls for $250,000 for repairs to the Wild Acres dam.
 
The multi-year renovation of the Springside House would continue with another $500,000 allocation, an increase in allocation from last year's $400,000. The Westside Riverway Park would see $100,000 for construction, another $75,000 would go toward designing a future phase of the Ashuwilticook Rail Trail extension, and $52,500 would go toward the development of a pickle ball facility at Springside Park, a project that has received pushback from the Springside Conservancy.
 
The airport only has one capital purchase in the proposal, asking for $30,000 for a blower attachment for snow removal operations. The proposal capital plan also calls for $750,000 in upgrading elevators in schools and improvements to school security systems. Three elevators -- in City Hall, the Library, and the Senior Center -- are all also proposed to be repaired with a $750,000 allocation. 
 
The Police and Fire departments are also eyed for a number of equipment replacements. The capital budget for the Fire Department includes a new inspection vehicle, safety officer vehicle, portable radio replacements, and self-contained breathing apparatus replacements. The capital budget for the Police Department includes a support service vehicle, radio replacements, computer replacement, MDT replacement, new technology and software, a lake patrol boat, and replacing the chief's vehicle. 
 
Finally, the capital budget calls for building security access upgrades to the tune of $98,000 through the Information Technology Department.
 
Meanwhile, the water and sewer systems will get $6.1 million in upgrades in a separate capital budget, one for the enterprise accounts. These systems are maintained through water and sewer bills and rates have been tentatively approved over the course of seven years with these projects taken into account. The first rate increase was certainly noticed by residents the first quarter of this year when a large increase was approved for both.
 
The largest project in the enterprise accounts is to upgrade the Ashley and Cleveland water treatment plants at a cost of $5.2 million. The Water Department would also see two replacement vehicles.
 
On the sewer side, upgrades to the collection system, efforts to solve infiltration and inflow issues throughout the system would continue, and a replacement truck. The sewer enterprise capital budget is notably just $575,000 of the $6.1 million worth of repairs as the entire wastewater treatment plant is currently undergoing a full reconstruction.
 
iBerkshires will be providing more in depth coverage when the City Council debates the capital budget in the near future.

Tags: capital budget,   fiscal 2020,   pittsfield_budget,   

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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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