Letter: Progress Means Moving on Paper Mill Cleanup

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.

Carol Cushenette
Adams, Mass.

Hoosac Valley Regional Faces Challenging Budget Season

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
12:48PM / Wednesday, February 11, 2026

The demonstration of the 'seawalls' the students created was a 'Spotlight on Applied Learning,' a frequent agenda item for the monthly meetings. 

CHESHIRES, Mass. — Hoosac Valley Regional School District is looking at a 7 percent budget increase out of the gate.

 

The School Committee on Monday night got a first look at a draft budget of $24,763,431, up $1.62 million from this year.

 

Superintendent Aaron Dean said he and Business Manager Erika Snyder have been "trying to nail Jell-O to a tree" with this budget the last three weeks.

 

"And this is kind of what it is already chipping away something. So there's going to be plenty of challenge with our finances," he said, adding that filling that gap is not realistic, "given the constraints that the towns have. So we have to kind of work to find a more reasonable number. That work will be through reductions, unfortunately, but it'd also be looking at other funding sources and revolving sources."

 

Like most school districts, Hoosac Valley is seeing increases in special education costs, which are up about 22 percent for fiscal 2027.

 

Between specialists, contracted services and outsourcing, the district is looking at about a half-million increase alone in special education costs.

 

Dean said the student population was nearing 30 percent needing services and that up to 10 will be requiring out-of-district services with two more "in the queue."