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Home : BRPC Archive : Community Dev.
Community and Land Use Planning Archives The BRPC Community Development team is continually moving on to new projects as old projects are completed. Since community planning is a cumulative, long-term endeavor, these archives are intended to provide basic information about past projects that Berkshire residents may still find relevant. Please call or e-mail with further questions on any project described in these archives.
Dalton Downtown Buildings Facade Improvements Program Clarksburg Mill Revitalization Plan Sponsored in part by the Town, local Mill Owners, and the Community
Development Plan Program, BRPC has secured funds, hired a consultant and is currently administering the program to
deliver engineering designs for a new fire protection system, and structural improvements to the Mill buildings. Sheffield Master Plan & Zoning Diagnostic Study Sponsored in part by the Town and the EO 418 Community Development Plan
program, BRPC is working to assist Sheffield assemble data, hire a consultant and craft a community-driven Comprehensive
Master Plan. The Town of Sheffield has received a Smart Growth Technical Assistance grant from EOEA to conduct a
comprehensive review of their zoning bylaw and to determine its consistency with MGL Ch. 40A. Open Space Residential Development Model Bylaw(s) The BRPC Regional Issues Committee is focusing on the prospect of residential cluster development in the region and
studying Open Space Residential Development (OSRD) model bylaws. BRPC applied to the Commonwealth's Priority Development
Fund (PDF) for a grant to develop OSRD model bylaw language and guidance; a grant response is still pending from the
Massachusetts Department of Housing and Commonwealth Development (MA DHCD). The Regional Issues Committee will continue to
meet with developers and housing experts at its bimonthly meetings through 2005. It has already consulted with residential
developer David Ward, a long-time proponent of OSRD/cluster development and developer of the Maple Leaf Farms cluster
devleopment in the Town of Dalton, Tony Murad, Berkshire Representative to Western Massachusetts Home Builders Association,
and Tri-Corner Community Development Corporation Executive Director Timothy Geller.
Right-to-Farm Zoning Model Bylaw BRPC has been awarded $25,000 in Smart Growth Technical Assistance (SGTA) program funds to assist the Towns of Savoy, New
Marlborough, Alford and the City of Pittsfield in developing and implementing Right-to-Farm Bylaws and to explore other local
measures to protect agriculture, including the establishment of municipal Agricultural Commissions. The project, which will
run through June 2005, is principally funded by the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) and supplemented by a
grant of $2,000 from the Highlands Community Initiative.
Regional Community Housing Trust The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) has been awarded $20,000 through the Smart Growth Demonstration
Initiative (SGDI) program to assist rural communities in the region to develop organizational capacity to address local
housing needs. The principal goal of the project is to develop and implement a Community Housing Trust that will offer a
community-based mechanism for planning, financing and developing quality affordable housing opportunities in small, rural
municipalities in the Berkshires. The project is funded by the Citizen’s Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) and
MassHousing.
Please continue to the Regional Community Housing Trust webpage for more information on this project. Lenox Outsource Planner Program Initiated in 2001, the Lenox Outsource Planner Program was designed to
provide the Town of Lenox with a dedicated professional planner from the BRPC staff to
perform part-time community planning activities. The following is a list of projects completed
in the Town of Lenox under the Outsource Planner Program: The Development Assistance Guidebook
was designed to assist property owners and developers through the application and developmetn process in Lenox. At Town Meeting, May 2003, the Town voted to create the Open Space Residential District to allow for greater open space
protection in areas considered more rural in nature and to create incentives for cluster residential development.
The Gateway Redevelopment Study and
proposed Overlay Zoning District seek to better define and
regulate the redevleopment of the area known as the Gateway on Routes 7 & 20. Zoning amendments are to be considered at Town
meeting May 2005. Working with an independent preservation consultant, the Town has initiated the creation of Historic District Commission Guidelines to better define the preferred redevleopment alternatives for historic structures in Lenox Village. Visual Simulation Using 3D Analyst In a continuing effort to better integrate existing land use planning efforts with innovative mapping and analytical tools, BRPC used grants from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and the Highland Communities Initiative for the purchase of a software extension for our existing geographic information system (GIS). The 3D Analyst program, a three-dimensional visualization, topographic analysis and surface creation tool, uses current GIS data layers (i.e. topographic maps, satellite images, aerial photographs, scanned images, etc) to develop dynamic and interactive maps that elevated our previous visualization and analysis capacity to a new level of visual reality. Additionally, this project included staff training related to software operation and management and the implementation of 3-D visual simulations for the towns of Dalton, Florida, and Hinsdale. Home Site Map Publications Contact Job Opportunities at BRPC Directions to BRPC Municipal eCenter BRPC Archive |
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