WEST STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) announce that the West Stockbridge Affordable Housing Trust is in the process of developing a strategic plan to address the housing needs of West Stockbridge.
ArtWeek Berkshires 2024 Welcoming Submissions
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — ArtWeek Berkshires, a county-wide collaboration, will take place May 17-27.
The ArtWeek committee posted its call for artists. The non-juried event is free to all Berkshire County individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in showcasing creative work. Submissions from actors, cartoonists, crafters, dancers, designers, filmmakers, illustrators, mimes, multimedia artists, musicians, performance artists, poets, puppeteers, theater artists, visual artists, writers – and more – are welcome.
What’s the worst muddy dirt road you can think of in Berkshire County? The regional planning commission wants to know
The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission wants to know about your dirt road problems.
Berkshire County residents and those who drive its many unpaved roads are being asked to fill out a survey, in the form of a map, with any issues they notice while traveling. The BRPC is encouraging residents to specify problems on the map in an effort to gather details for possible grant proposals the group could file on behalf of cities and towns in the future.
ADUs are now allowed by right in Massachusetts. But Berkshire County towns still have work to do
Accessory dwelling units are now permitted by right in single-family zoning districts across Massachusetts. In the Berkshires, municipalities are still working to bring local bylaws into compliance with the state law.
For years, Massachusetts has left it to individual towns and cities to define what is an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, to set restrictions and to decide whether to allow them at all. But as the housing crisis has deepened, officials looked to streamline regulations and cut away some of the red-tape that has prevented the construction of ADUs, which some would know as in-law apartments.
BRPC Invites Applications for Home Modification Loan Program
PITTSFIELD, Mass — The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) is now accepting applications for the Home Modification Loan Program (HMLP).
This state-funded, no-interest loan program assists homeowners and landlords (with fewer than 10 units) in making necessary accessibility modifications to keep disabled or elderly family members in their homes.
Williamstown Signs on to Opioid Abatement Collaborative
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town Monday signed on to a North County initiative to address and combat opioid addiction in the region.
On a 5-0 vote, the Select Board OK’d Williamstown’s entry into an intermunicipal agreement with North Adams, six other North County towns and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to form the North Berkshire Opioid Abatement Collaborative.
The collaborative is an outgrowth of the North Berkshire County Heal Coalition established in 2022.
Berkshire County gets DOT grant for bike path to link Mass MoCA with other cultural institutions
Berkshire County leaders are celebrating a $17.3 million federal grant that will lay the groundwork for a pathway linking the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail at Adams to the Mohican Recreational Path in Williamstown. The 9.3-mile shared-use pathway, which will pass through downtown North Adams, will go a long way toward connecting many of the region’s cultural institutions, including the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Clark Art Institute, Williams College Museum of Art, and the Adams Theater.
Neal visits North Adams to celebrate over $17 million in federal funding to expand the Ashuwillticook throughout the Northern Berkshires
Democratic Congressman Richard Neal of the 1st Massachusetts district was in North Adams Friday to announce a $17.3 million federal grant to extend a popular local rail trail.
The idea of connecting Williamstown and North Adams through a bike path has been bandied about Berkshire County for some time. The two major communities of Northern Berkshire County sit just five miles apart along Route 2. Eric Kerns is a founding partner of Tourists, a luxury hotel located between the two communities. In the packed city council chambers at city hall Friday morning, he read a past endorsement for the project.
North Adams, Partners Celebrate $17.3M in Federal Money Toward Bike Path
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It’s been 26 years since the concept of a Connecticut to Vermont bike trail was first proposed — and 130 since a proposal was put forward for a path between North Adams and Williamstown.
Those dreams took another step forward on Friday with the announcement of $17.3 million in federal funding for the “Adventure to Ashuwillticook Trail,” a 9.3-section from the Mohican Path at Williamstown’s Spruces to Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Northern Berkshire County will connect to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail thanks to a new 9.3-mile stretch funded with federal dollars
NORTH ADAMS — The North Adams Daily Transcript wrote in an 1896 story, “The wheelmen and wheelwomen, who are now visiting Northern Berkshire in great numbers, would be strongly impressed with our enterprise up here if they see something being done in the way of bicycle paths.”
A $17 million grant will allow Northern Berkshire County communities to forge a new, 9.3-mile path connecting to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, realizing an idea more than 120 years in the making.