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The zoning changes along Tyler Street are designed to modernize uses and create more flexibility.

Pittsfield Community Development Sees Tyler Zoning Amendment

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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The Community Development Board is sending the recommended changes to the City Council. 
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Community Development Board has kicked the Tyler Street overlay district zoning amendments to the City Council for consideration.
 
The board heard a presentation from City Planner CJ Hoss on Tuesday night and signed off on some changes that would modernize zoning in that area and create more flexibility.
 
"It allows greater opportunity for economic revitalization and establishes a mix of complementary uses to help reduce urban sprawl and make more economical and efficient use of  property," Hoss said. "It will help stimulate and revitalize the Tyler Street area."
 
Last month, the board voted to act as petitioner on the zoning amendment that would create an overlay that stretches from First Street to Woodlawn Avenue and down Kellogg Street. 
 
The amendment would accommodate modern uses such as shared work spaces, live/work spaces, and other mixed uses.
 
"Small-scale creative services are largely around making things," Hoss said. "A lot of that is rolled into manufacturing in our zoning and that is only allowable in industrial areas." 
 
He said this could include a small brewery or a small textile manufacturer. 
 
The city began discussions on this overlay some years ago. Hoss said when Walmart initially proposed opening in the William Stanley Business Park, the city received inquiries from large national retailers who wanted to demolish and/or construct properties that were really a better fit for a suburban neighborhood -- not Tyler Street.
 
"This has been a work in progress," he said. "This is an effort without totally digging up all of the base zoning to put in place something that allows a bit more in the base general business."
 
Hoss said the biggest change would be in the in this southeast "boot" that is currently zoned Commercial-Warehousing and Storage. He said the most easterly portion of this block would be converted to General Business. The west portion would be converted to Multi-Family Residential.
 
Mostly residential units occupy this area, he said, so this change would align zoning with actual use while making possible development easier.
 
"We want to try to stabilize that part of the neighborhood because it is still primarily residential but the residential uses are technically not conforming uses," Hoss said. "Instead of continuing to allow degradation with some uses that are allowed in the district."
 
Current business in this area should not be affected at all and can continue operation.
 
Large-scale multi-family housing is really not an option in the area because the parcels are smaller, he said, and the city would promote smaller multi-family housing units that would diversify the city's housing stock. 
 
The change in the northwest corner is quite smaller: the zoning of a single plot will go from Multi-Family Residential to General Business. Hoss said it makes the zoning more consistent and really affects a small parcel currently used for housing and that this use will be allowed to continue.
 
The amendment also would change parking regulations and reduce mandated parking regulations to one spot per unit. 
 
It also makes parking changes for businesses. If a business is moving into an existing storefront, it will not have to automatically seek a parking waiver to continue a historic use.
 
Hoss said this more flexible business parking is already used downtown.
 
There are still special permit triggers that would really only affect large development projects and new construction.
 
The City Council will see this proposal in the new year. From there it will be go back to the Community Development Board for another hearing.

Tags: Planning Board,   tyler street,   zoning,   

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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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