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Mayor Linda Tyer proclaimed Sept. 10, 2019, as Berkshire Hills Chorus Day to mark group's 50th anniversary. The singers will be performing Saturday at Barrington Stage.

Pittsfield to Release Morningside Fire Station RFP Again

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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The council is hoping a developer will be interested in the long-closed Morningside firehouse.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council wants to offload the historic Morningside Fire Station, optimally, to a developer.
 
The council had requested that the city conduct a surplus property sale and, Tuesday, it looked at a complete list of city-owned properties. The list spanned hundreds of properties, some available for disposition others still utilized by the city.
 
However, the one property the councilors focused on was the decrepit Morningside firehouse located on 231 Tyler St. The 1906 building has been out of service since 1970.
 
"I have talked to a lot of retired firefighters that are very close to that building ... and it is a historic building, it is right in the area that we want to develop and I don't know what the problem is," Ward 4 Christopher Connell said. "If there is someone out there that wants to develop it or put it up for sale with the other surplus properties." 
 
Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood said the administration has solicited interest through a request for proposals (RFP). He said the city did not want to make a profit and was essentially willing to give the property away to the right developer but there were no submissions.
 
Requests have been put out previously with minimal response; Berkshire Children & Families had evinced some interest about five years ago but nothing came of the plan. 
 
He said there are plans to release another RFP this fall and this will likely be the last.
 
"If that bares no fruits then the decision will have to be made at some point, sooner rather than later depending on the outcome, whether or not that building needs to be demolished," Kerwood said.
 
The building was listed with a value of $111,300 on the property list.
 
Connell said he was under the impression that there was some interest in the building. This was echoed by Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi.
 
Kerwood said there was interest and people had "kicked the tires" but when the RFP deadline came around no one made any submissions. Without official submissions, the city cannot act.
 
The council was hesitant to broach demolishing the structure and Connell suggested at least securing the structure in the interim. 
 
"This is a historical building and I say at least let's get up there and throw some plywood on, well you can't now because you would probably fall through," he said. "If we did that years ago we could have minimized the damage."
 
Connell said it may be worth including the building in the surplus sale if the last-ditch RFP effort does not produce a favorable result.
 
The conversation then turned to other properties and the councilors counted around 40 parcels listed as surplus and agreed they wanted to move these parcels, many of which are vacant plots of land, in the near future.
 
"I want to see this move forward and give the taxpayers a break," Morandi said. "Let's get this property back on the tax rolls ... I hope we can move forward with that."
 
Kerwood said there are some additional properties the city would like to declare as surplus but there is a process to follow. He said the council can expect these properties to come before them soon to be listed for disposition. After the list is complete, the city can look at a surplus property sale.
 
In other business, the council approved temporary access off Downing Four Parkway and 1803 East St. to Eversource in order to allow the electric utility to make upgrades and conduct maintenance of the electric transmission facility.
 
Councilor at Large Melissa Mazzeo asked how the city can be assured that Eversource will repair any damages to the city roads.
 
Pittsfield Public Services Commissioner David Turocy said video of city property will be taken before work commences. After work is complete, the roads and video will be reviewed.
 
He said Eversource has more work it needs to conduct and the city can deny future access if repairs are not made to the correct standard.
 
Council asked that the Industrial Park road also be documented. 
 
The council voted against filing a traffic order from the city solicitor to amend traffic order 958. The amendment would make parking in parking meter zone C 50 cents an hour with the first 30 minutes free except for the Columbus Avenue, and Municipal Lot 7, in which the first 90 minutes will be free. 
 
The only votes in favor were Councilors John Krol, Mazzeo, and Morandi. 
 
• The council filed a petition from Kenneth Warren requesting a ballot question to prohibit establishing any separate fee for residents for any solid waste removal program prior to Jan. 1, 2022.
 
The only votes against were Mazzeo, Morandi, Connell, and Councilor Anthony Simonelli.
 
• During the front end of the meeting, Mayor Linda Tyer read a proclamation naming Sept. 10, 2019, Berkshire Hills Chorus Day. The women.s barbershop group turned 50 and will hold a special concert on Saturday at 7 at Barrington Stage. 

Tags: fire station,   land sales,   municipal property,   RFP,   

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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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