image description — The Adams dog park on Cook Street has been open since last fall but the town formally recognized its completion on Saturday.

Previous Next

Adams Dog Park Gets Red-Ribbon Treatment

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
01:18PM / Monday, August 25, 2025Print Story | Email Story

K9 Adam wasn't too sure about the other dogs.

ADAMS, Mass. — Pups have been enjoying the new dog park for months now but it finally got the red-ribbon treatment on Saturday morning.

Officials cut the ribbon the park with the help of the Northern Berkshire Events Committee, which organized the event, and with complimentary Pup Cups from Roxie's Barkery.

"As we all know, things in government move kind of slow," said Selectman Jay Mezycwor. "The Hoosac Valley Coal & Grain Park Project, as it was called, was developed over a number of years. ...

"The thought here was to transform a vacant former industrial and commercial site here at 1 Cook Street, which formerly housed the coal and grain elevator and feed store."

Mezycwor described the dog park as a "critical piece in the transformation of this property," which includes event and picnic space, accessible walkways and public parking along the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.

Plans for the park back in 2021 had included the renovation of the coal and grain building but that had to be put on the backburner until more funding becomes available. About $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds was used to remediate the site, remove underground tanks, tear down some outbuildings and landscape the park.

Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture of Hudson, N.Y., did the design and D.F. Lane Landscaping Inc of Lenox the construction, which was completed last fall.

"Most people recognize the historic grain elevator building, which dates back to 1855," said Mezycwor. "It's iconic character created strong community desire to save the building, and then decided to do some restoration and remediation of the area here that we see in the park on the grounds, it seemed like a perfect landmark that all can enjoy, both human and canine."

The off-leash area is fenced in with a gated entry system, cleanup bags and disposal, picnic tables, rocks and logs for interest, and a young maple that will eventually offer shade. There is no separation for large and small dogs.

The park has picnic tables and young shade trees, grassy areas and hardscape, and concrete forms and foundations leftover from the site's past that now take on the appearance of modern art.

There were more people than dogs at the park for the official opening on Saturday, but at about a half-dozen pooches ran around the new park and went home with Nylabones.

Selectwomen Ann Bartlett and Christine Hoyt and Selectman Joseph Nowak helped Mezycwor along with Police Sgt. Curtis Crane and K9 Adam. Also on hand were Town Clerk Haley Meczycwor and Kyomi Belanger of the Community Development Office.

Mezycwor thanked the Community Development Office for its efforts to bring the park to fruition and the Northern Berkshire Events Committee, a volunteer group, for sponsoring the event and providing several raffle prizes.

Tags: dog park, ribbon cutting,

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

RIBCO Supply

Check out our great lineup of Boss Plows, and spreaders. 2 Locations Clarksburg & Pittsfield!

ribcosupply.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Letter: Progress Means Moving on Paper Mill Cleanup

Letter to the Editor05:00PM / Wednesday, February 11, 2026

To the Editor:

Our town is facing a clear choice: move a long-abandoned industrial site toward cleanup and productive use or allow it to remain a deteriorating symbol of inaction.

The Community Development team has applied for a $4 million EPA grant to remediate the former Curtis Mill property, a site that has sat idle for more than two decades. The purpose of this funding is straightforward: address environmental concerns and prepare the property for safe commercial redevelopment that can contribute to our tax base and economic vitality.

Yet opposition has emerged based on arguments that miss the point of what this project is designed to do. We are hearing that basement vats should be preserved, that demolition might create dust, and that the plan is somehow "unimaginative" because it prioritizes cleanup and feasibility over wishful reuse of a contaminated, aging structure.

These objections ignore both the environmental realities of the site and the strict federal requirements tied to this grant funding. Given the condition of most of the site's existing buildings, our engineering firm determined it was not cost-effective to renovate. Without cleanup, no private interest will risk investment in this site now or in the future.

This is not a blank check renovation project. It is an environmental remediation effort governed by safety standards, engineering assessments, and financial constraints. Adding speculative preservation ideas or delaying action risks derailing the very funding that makes cleanup possible in the first place. Without this grant, the likely outcome is not a charming restoration, it is continued vacancy, ongoing deterioration, and zero economic benefit.

For more than 20 years, the property has remained unused. Now, when real funding is within reach to finally address the problem, we should be rallying behind a practical path forward not creating obstacles based on narrow or unrealistic preferences.

I encourage residents to review the proposal materials and understand what is truly at stake. The Adams Board of Selectmen and Community Development staff have done the hard work to put our town in position for this opportunity. That effort deserves support.

Progress sometimes requires letting go of what a building used to be so that the community can gain what it needs to become.

View Full Story