Here’s what we have for you this week in The Edge Real Estate section:
Property of the Week – Lori Rose of Stone House Properties offers a spacious modernist 4 BR/3 bath escape on 4.8 wooded acres, a seasonal creek, and a footbridge to a bonus cabin in the woods.
Transformations – Architect Pamela Sandler opens up a house on Onota Lake to light, movement, and, most importantly, to the lake itself.
Weekly real estate transactions for Berkshire County, Northern Litchfield County and Columbia County.
Market Perspective – In...
Housatonic Water Works Co-owner Jim Mercer explained that there is no threat to public health. Nor does the unilateral administrative order from DEP state that there is such a threat.
"It’s a very tough and competitive situation for Low Income Housing Tax Credit Projects right now — a situation exacerbated by the uncertainty that has been created at the national level."
-- Tim Geller, executive director of the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire
Following nearly four years of struggle against a powerful company (Kinder Morgan and its subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline) backed by laws and a Federal commission, it seems that now is an appropriate point to judge performances of the various participants and agencies that could have made more of a difference to avoid this calamity.
So where were the Massachusetts officials who could have negotiated with Connecticut to save Otis State Forest because the gas wasn’t really needed after all?
Although EPA’s final remedy requires the General Electric Company to transport and dispose of PCB waste in a federally approved landfill, the company is fighting tooth and nail to dispose of contaminated waste locally.
Depressed consumer demand for natural gas in Connecticut, could yet save beleaguered Article 97 of the Massachusetts’ Constitution. Reduced demand for gas in Connecticut could allow Massachusetts to continue to protect pristine, specially designated Commonwealth terrain.
One of the conditions is that the CDC continues to accept public comments on its plan. And if changes are made as a result of those comments, the CDC will amend its plan.
In 2008 Hazen Paper Company bought the building from Neenah Paper Company for $785,000 according to John Hazen, whose company has never had any dealings with GE but whose building is subject to the restriction allowing only industrial use for 12 more years.
In her letter to the editor, Christine Ward writes: “We respectfully request the Select Board endorse/adopt the comprehensive Lake Mansfield Recreation Area improvement plan as provided in the KZLA report. It is a balanced, expert report.”
The GE-owned parcel at Rising Pond here — earmarked by the company for a PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) dump --is zoned for residential use only, according to Great Barrington Town Planner Christopher Rembold, who said the town’s zoning regulations “do not allow an industrial-type use.”
In her letter to the editor, Sharon Gregory of Great Barrington writes: "Let us spend NO additional public dollars until a formal proposal has been presented and approved by the DEP. Full remediation is critical to the community."
“The idea of bringing this into a residential neighborhood is hard for me to swallow. So many things that have happened...things we bet on and lost.”
--- Great Barrington Selectboard Chair Sean Stanton
“It is my observation that it’s too bad that [the affordable housing] is wedged between a sewer waste plant and a toxic waste field.”
--- ZBA member Michael Wise
In her letter to the editor, Jane Wright of Housatonic, Mass., writes: "I do not believe the Mercers have been good Stewards of our water supply. I believe the state should take a closer look at the quality of our water."
Privately-owned Housatonic Water Works, which draws water from Long Pond, says it needs the increase to deal with higher operating expenses and state-mandated upgrades to an antiquated system.
General Electric proposes to stash PCBs from the river in three landfills: one next to Woods Pond in Lenox Dale, another near the Mass Pike in Lee, close to Goose Pond, and the third adjacent to the Rising Pond dam in Housatonic.
