image description — The new Williamstown fire station on Main Street is nearing completion.

Williamstown Fire District Prepping for Transition to New Station

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:25AM / Tuesday, December 02, 2025Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee last week took the first step in selling off the current fire station property on Water Street.

Meeting in a room that it shared with furniture already delivered for the new Main Street station, the five-person committee voted unanimously to declare the current station "surplus property."

Late this month or early in 2026, the committee likely will call a special fire district meeting to authorize the sale of 34 Water St., the local fire department's home since 1950.

"After we get the district's approval, we need to issue [a request for proposals] in accordance with the provisions of [Massachusetts General Law] Chapter 30B," Prudential Committee Chair David Moresi said. "We can craft that RFP in a manner most beneficial to the district. We need to have an eye to the community at large.

"We can put restrictions on the building. We don't have to accept the highest bid. We may see there's something that's going to be really beneficial to the community, and we can go with that."

The committee heard on Wednesday that the new station on Main Street (Route 2) remains on schedule and under budget. Officials have said they intend to start the process of relocating to the new station this month.

Chief Jeffrey Dias told the committee the project has reached the point where he is fielding calls every day, sometimes two or three times per day, with questions about finishing touches being applied at the project.

"We're getting into the nitty gritty, which is good," Dias said. "We're coming to the end of the tunnel."

Some exterior finishing touches are being put off until the spring, Moresi said.

"Obviously, we're getting into the time of year when it's not ideal to finish some things," he said. "One thing we'll be postponing is the final layer of asphalt [in the parking areas and driveway]. We've come this far with a great project, and we don't want to cut corners now."

Moresi mentioned that final landscaping at the Main Street site also is on hold until after the snow melts and the ground thaws next year.

"We are far enough along in the project that we can say we'll be coming in under our budget numbers," he added. "Everyone should be happy with that."

In February 2023, attendees at a special district meeting authorized borrowing up to $22.5 million for the station project.

The Prudential Committee, which oversees the district (a separate taxing authority apart from town government) worked efficiently through a relatively light agenda on the evening before Thanksgiving.

It reviewed the district's financials, a task made easier now that the committee has a separate Finance Committee that sits monthly to go over the district's finances the week before the Prudential Committee meets.

District Treasurer Billie Jo Sawyer on Wednesday told the Prudential Committee that fiscal year 2026 actual expenditures are tracking well against the budget.

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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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