Williamstown Seniors Evacuated After Sprinkler Malfunction

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
03:13PM / Tuesday, February 04, 2025Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Several residents of the Highland Woods senior apartments were relocated overnight Monday after a malfunction in the sprinkler system caused water damage in three units, a representative of the management company said on Tuesday.

Kristin Coyne, the director of portfolio operations for Hearthway, said the first emergency calls came in at about 10 p.m. Monday.

"Those residents were moved to a hotel for the time being," Coyne said on Tuesday afternoon.

"We haven't gotten much information [about the cause of the leak]. The first goal is to get things corrected and get people squared away and then do more research to figure out the cause with the Board of Health, the Fire Department and our vendors."

Coyne said it is not known whether the malfunction was related to issues that caused a five-month delay in the opening portions of the 40-unit complex when it opened in 2016.

Highland Woods was the result of a public-private partnership involving Williams College, which donated the property off the north end of Southworth Street, and the town, which contributed about $2.8 million. The majority of that funding, $2.6 million, was from the proceeds of a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that enabled the town to purchase the former Spruces Mobile Home Park from owner Morgan Management. The town's Affordable Housing Trust and Community Preservation Committee also contributed to the project.

FEMA funded the town's acquisition to facilitate the closing of the Main Street mobile home park after Tropical Storm Irene.

Highland Woods, built by Berkshire Housing Development Corp. (now known as Hearthway), was seen by town leaders and the college as a way to replace the housing lost when the Spruces was closed.

Coyne said Tuesday that Hearthway has insurance to cover the cost of the building and encourages its residents to have renter's insurance to cover damage to their personal property.

She did not offer a guess as to when those residents affected can safely return to their homes.

"Our team and external vendors are working on it throughout the day today," Coyne said. "Information is pretty minimal at this point. The most important thing is it's being corrected and our residents are safe."

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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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