North Adams Hazard & Preparedness Plans Being Presented

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council will be presented with the city's Hazard Mitigation and Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness plans on Tuesday.
 
A public listening and viewing session will be held at 7 p.m. before the council meeting in the City Hall lobby. 
 
Administrative Officer Michael Canales and Caroline Massa, senior planner with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, will present plans at the public session and later to the City Council.
 
These presentations will offer an overview of progress to date and present outline of next steps in the process, and invite public and council comments to ensure these plans are complete, accurate, and responsive to residents' concerns, suggestions, and perspectives.
 
A public workshop one emergency preparedness was held in April with department heads and partners at St. Elizabeth's Parish Center to provide input on the plans.
 
The commonwealth of Massachusetts requires each municipality to maintain a current Hazard Mitigation Plan to identify and remediate risks related to natural hazard events such as flooding, hurricanes, and winter storms. In addition, the city of North Adams currently is pursuing certification through the state's Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program in order to plan more effectively for climate change resiliency.
 
All are welcome to attend and contribute to the prioritization of resilience actions in their community. Attendees will have the opportunity to give written comments on actions developed by the MVP and Hazard Mitigation Committee as well as from the MVP workshop. Those attending can provide contact information in order to receive the final MVP planning document and for opportunity to comment of the draft North Adams Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Tags: climate change,   hazard mitigation,   

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Clarksburg Applying for Home Rehabilitation Program

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town is applying for Community Development Block Grant funds for a housing rehabilitation program. 
 
Clarksburg could get $850,000 or more depending on if it partners with another community. 
 
Brett Roberts, a senior planner with Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, presented the options to the Select Board at its last meeting. 
 
"We were looking over our portfolio, and you're a town that we haven't reached out to in quite a while, and I wanted to change that," he said. "You have a pretty competitive score with the state so we wanted to see if you'd be interested in the grant."
 
The grants, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, help small cities and towns undertake projects that benefit low and moderate-income residents. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll recently announced more than $4 million coming to Berkshire towns for fiscal 2025. 
 
This is slightly different than Home Modification Loan Program presented to the North Adams City Council earlier this month that focuses on accessibility.
 
Roberts said funds would be used to repair homes, bring them up to code, do lead mitigation or update roofs, windows, and septic. Eligible recipients would have income up to 80 percent of the area median income. 
 
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