Williamstown Fire District to Seek $25M for Station Project

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
04:59AM / Monday, January 16, 2023Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The committee that oversees the town's fire district Thursday approved warrant article language seeking authority to borrow up to $25 million to build a new station on Main Street.

That is the number officials will seek on Feb. 28 at a special district meeting at Williamstown Elementary School.

Three members of the five-person Prudential Committee attended Thursday's special meeting to sign off on the language.

Chair David Moresi was joined by Joe Beverly and Alex Steel for a brief hybrid meeting at the current fire station on Water Street.

The $25 million will be sought to cover the cost of "the design, engineering, construction and equipping of a new fire station to be located at 562-580 Main Street," according to the article's language.

The draft warrant article language the Prudential Committee members received referenced $25 million. At the suggestion of Jim Kolesar, a member of the district's Building Committee, the panel added the words "up to" to emphasize the district's continued pursuit of cost savings and alternative funding sources, like grants and gifts.

All registered voters who live in Williamstown will be eligible to participate in the meeting on Feb. 28 in the elementary school gymnasium, which has a capacity of 800.

Two-thirds of voters at the meeting would need to vote in favor of the bond authorization ~~Proposition 2 1/2 override~~ in order for the project to proceed.

If the project were approved at the $25 million level, that would be larger than Williamstown's share of the $64.7 million addition/renovation project at Mount Greylock Regional School. The town's share of that project (after contributions from the Massachusetts School Building Authority) came to about $22 million.

As a school building project, the Mount Greylock rebuild needed a simple majority for the debt override, but it passed in Williamstown by a margin of 2,226 to 351, with about 84 percent of voters saying yes.

On Thursday, Moresi said the Williamstown Fire District still is working on an analysis of how its building project would affect local property tax rates. He said the tax impact numbers would be available well before the Feb. 28 meeting.

The Prudential Committee also discussed its continuing outreach to educate residents in advance of the decision, again referring members of the public to telecasts the district did in conjunction with the town's community access television station, Willinet, viewable on the station's website.

Tags: fire station, prudential committee,

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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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