Letter: Vote DeMayo-Wall for Planning Board

Letter to the Editor06:40PM / Sunday, May 08, 2022Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

The only way that you can live in Williamstown and say "let's wait for the new town plan to solve our housing problem" with a straight face is if you're new to town or you have been asleep. We know that Williamstown will not follow housing recommendations in a master plan because we have a near-perfect record of not doing so.

Here's the evidence we do have: Williamstown's 2002 plan outlined seven strategies the town should use to create a target of 200 new housing units that people at or under the area median income could afford. We then spent the next 20 years ignoring all but one of the recommendations, and disparaging those who sought to bring them about. The MP recommendation that a portion of the Lowry property, in the town center, be used for housing was shot down. The MP recommendation that the Water/Spring Street area be used for housing was nixed when our own Select Board voted not to accept a proposal to build affordable housing on Water Street (Jane Patton was the only vote in favor). When the
Planning Board drafted bylaws to encourage housing density in the town center, another MP recommendation, it was accused of over-depending on the residents of Cole Avenue to accommodate housing; when it recommended bylaws to encourage housing out of the town center, it has been accused of supporting sprawl and runaway development.

In housing terms, we are worse off in 2022 than we were in 2002. With evidence that we systematically reject housing recommendations in the reigning Master Plan, how can anyone say with a straight face that opportunities to create new housing should wait for the completion of a new Master Plan? It's code for no, without the honesty, at least, of just saying no.

Vote for Carin DeMayo-Wall for Planning Board. She's smart, energetic, and knowledgeable. And not naive.

Cheryl Shanks
Williamstown, Mass.

Tags: election 2022,

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Williamstown Studying Major Overhaul for Main Street

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:14AM / Wednesday, July 29, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town is working with a Worcester civil engineering firm to redesign Main Street with an eye toward a major project sometime in the next decade.

Community Development Director Andrew Groff was before the Select Board on Monday night to talk about Town Hall's use of a $500,000 state grant to do preliminary design on major improvements to that portion of Route 2 that runs from Water Street west to the Field Park rotary, through the middle of Williams College's campus.

Groff introduced the elected officials to Amanda Bazinet of Worcester's Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, who is helping the town to develop a plan for Main Street that would align with the commonwealth's Complete Streets Program.

"Our project goals, in addition to the increased pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, is just, in general, improving the sightlines and improving the intersection geometry," Bazinet said.

"Complete Streets … has a lot of different facets to it. As Andrew had mentioned, the goal is to improve the safety for all of the roadway users — not just the motorists. We're looking at improving it for pedestrians, bicyclists, anyone using a mobility device. We want to create streets that are safe for all ages and abilities to use. So, while bicyclists will still be allowed, legally, to use the roadway, we want to look at providing a separate bicycle accommodation along the corridor, whether it's a shared use path along both sides of the streets that is a little more accessible to young children or older people with disabilities to look at all transportation options."

One goal is to encourage "active transportation." The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, who the town hopes one day might fund the construction, has a "healthy transportation policy," Bazinet said.

That MassDOT funding would come through the Transportation Improvement Program, which is managed locally by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. The design work underway now is being done with an eye toward going after TIP funding years down the road.

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