Pittsfield Seeks Public Input on CDBG Plans

03:19PM / Monday, January 27, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's Office of Community Development is preparing to write its 2025 annual action plan and 2025-2029, five-year consolidated plan, which will determine how the city allocates its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds next year and over the next five years.

CDBG funds are provided annually to Pittsfield through an entitlement grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under Title 1 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.

The required plans are designed to help states and local jurisdictions assess their affordable housing and community development needs and market conditions to make data-driven, place-based investment decisions. The consolidated planning process serves as the framework for a communitywide dialogue to identify housing and community development priorities that align and focus funding from the CDBG formula block grant program.

To engage the entire community in this critical conversation, the city is holding a public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 6 p.m. at the Berkshire Athenaeum at 1 Wendell Ave. to gather input on the city's greatest priority needs that can be addressed with CDBG funds.

Additionally, an online survey here is available now through Feb. 27. The information provided will assist in the development of both plans. This survey should take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

Under Federal guidelines, at least 70 percent of CDBG funds must be used to benefit low- and moderate- income individuals. Each funded activity must meet one of three national objectives: 1) benefits low- and moderate-income individuals, 2) aids in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or 3) addresses an urgent need that poses a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community which occurred within the last 18 months and for which other funding is not available.

For questions related to the plans or the survey, or to request accommodations at the public hearing, contact Nate Joyner in the Pittsfield Department of Community Development at njoyner@cityofpittsfield.org or 413-499-9358.

Tags: CDBG, public hearing,

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EPA, GE Conducting Vernal Pool Study on Housatonic River

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
11:44AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A pilot study will determine the best way to remediate PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from vernal pools in the Housatonic River.

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric held an open house for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border. Despite the rain, several people attended the event at the Berkshire Athenaeum.

EPA project manager Josh Fontaine explained that it is an evaluation of which remediation method to use for the remaining vernal pools in Reach 5A.

"We're going to be testing two different methods. One is an excavation method, which we already know has been very successful with another vernal pool cleaned up much earlier in the project," he said.

"And then the other is the application of two different carbon amendments. It would be the application of powdered activated carbon and the application of granulated activated carbon."

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned using these methods: five with excavation and five with active carbon; 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.

Fontaine said there is no frontrunner for methodology.

"We know the excavation method is effective, but we would like to see if the less invasive method of using the amendment will be as effective for potential use," he said.

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