Great Barrington ARPA Target Housing, Health, Food

05:51PM / Wednesday, December 21, 2022Print Story | Email Story

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The town is using its latest round of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to inject more than $1 million into local affordable housing initiatives, food security and community health care organizations.

Combined with funding allocated earlier this year, the town has awarded more than $2.075 million in federal ARPA funds to local organizations.

"In considering how to distribute ARPA funds during the last year, the Selectboard has decided that investing in affordable housing options in town will have a lasting, long-term impact on our community," said Town Manager Mark Pruhenski. "Access to affordable and workforce housing options is a high priority for our residents who work and live here full-time."

The Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire (CDCSB) was awarded the organization nearly $700,000 toward its affordable housing initiatives. The awards include $199,610 for improvements at the Hillside Apartment Complex and $500,000 to acquire the Marble Block building on Main Street. Another $650,000 is designated for the Windflower Inn redevelopment as a workforce housing residence, a project of Construct Inc.

"We are so thankful to the town of Great Barrington, to the Selectboard, to Town Manager Mark Pruhenski, and to Assistant Town Manager Christopher Rembold for this generous allotment of ARPA funds," said Carol Bosco Baumann, CDCSB executive director. "As I've said before, CDCSB is determined to produce and preserve housing that is affordable to all. These awards couldn't have come at a more necessary time. Although housing is a fundamental human right, too many people have been forced to leave our community and too many struggle to make ends meet, all because they can’t afford to live here — or work here.

"Without locally based workers, our local businesses struggle to succeed. This funding will have a profound impact on our ability to serve individuals and families in our community — and it will help local businesses as well. We are grateful for the town's support in helping us achieve our mission."

As part of the funding agreement, four residential units in the Marble Block building will be restricted to 65 percent Area Median Income for 20 years.

In addition to acquiring the Marble Block, CDCSB projects include Windrush Commons, a 49-unit affordable housing complex under construction at 910 Main St., and the Small Business Technical Assistance program, which to date has mentored and assisted nearly 50 small business owners and entrepreneurs in Berkshire County.

Health care, food security and household assistance comprise the remaining ARPA distribution.

Community Health Programs will receive $150,000 for its expansion and reconfiguration of dental care services; VIM Berkshires $100,000, and Rural Recovery $50,000. People's Pantry will receive $73,500; Berkshire Bounty $20,000, and Berkshire Agricultural Ventures $20,000.

The federal ARPA initiative of 2021 provided approximately $8.7 billion to Massachusetts, of which municipalities received $3.4 billion to offset impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Lee Wants Bioremediation in Housatonic River Vernal Pool Study

05:24AM / Thursday, September 03, 2026

LEE, Mass. — The town has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric to include PCB bioremediation in its vernal pool study on the Housatonic River.

Lee officials are urging the EPA to require GE to add a bioremediation treatment arm to the vernal-pool study or provide the public with a clear explanation for why such testing is being excluded.

"This is exactly the kind of question EPA and GE should be asking before final remedy decisions are locked in," Select Board Chair Bob Jones said in a statement released to the press. "The town is not asking to slow the cleanup. We are asking EPA and GE to make the cleanup smarter, less destructive, and more protective over the long term."

An open house was held in Pittsfield earlier this summer for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A of the Housatonic River, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border.

EPA has required GE to conduct a Vernal Pool Pilot Study as part of the Housatonic River Rest of River remediation, comparing excavation and restoration with activated-carbon-based treatments, including a product called SediMite and powdered activated carbon, the town said.

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned of polychlorinated biphenyls in total, five with excavation and five with active carbon, and seven additional vernal pools will be monitored as controls. Construction will be complete around October, but the pools will be left to their natural processes and monitored with surveys and sampling for three years.

The Lee PCB Advisory Committee wrote a letter calling for the 21st-century approach it said could reduce long-term toxicity, avoid unnecessary destruction of sensitive habitats, and improve the effectiveness of the cleanup.

It states that Lee supports the study's purpose and agrees that EPA and GE must understand how cleanup activities affect sensitive vernal-pool ecosystems.

"The current pilot includes 10 treatment pools and seven control pools, while local officials understand that roughly 100 vernal pools may occur in the broader remediation corridor," the Aug. 27 letter reads.

"That makes the pilot study consequential: the methods tested now could shape how many sensitive wetlands are excavated, reconstructed, treated, or left with PCBs managed in place."

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