2018 has provided enough Great Barrington news to keep journalists busy and observers of town politics highly amused, signaling that the community dubbed “best small town in America” by Smithsonian Magazine continues to be a place in transition.
Tag: Manville Street
Opening the Weedgates II: Berkshire County’s towns vary in regulating marijuana sales, production
Moratoriums on retail and cultivation facilities can extend, with the state attorney general’s blessing, into 2019. Townspeople must eventually determine such things as the number of businesses they will allow, what the maximum size may be, and where in town they can be located.
Great Barrington sued over permit issued for controversial Manville Place project
Critics have argued that Nickerson and Rasch are exploiting a loophole in the town’s zoning bylaws.
Zoning loopholes decimating a residential neighborhood
Let this be a warning to the rest of the residents of Great Barrington. Sit down with the zoning bylaws. Scour the fine print for the loopholes. Find them. Demand they are changed.
Selectboard round-up: Housatonic water woes prompt action from the town; search firm hired to replace town manager; Manville Place approved
The selectboard announced that, about a year ago, it had commissioned a report by David Prickett of DPC Engineering to gather information on the water systems in the town, what the capital needs are and whether there are redundancies.
Tractor Supply will fill the rest of former Kmart space; Manville Place discussion will continue Sept. 27
Now that the planning board has made a positive declaration, the selectboard, which is the special permit-granting authority, is expected to formally grant the new permit for Tractor Supply at its meeting Monday, Sept. 24.
Egremont to partner with Construct Inc. on affordable housing development
There will be two articles on the special town meeting warrant related to the affordable housing plan: one that would “create low and moderate income housing to be located on town property at 175 Egremont Plain Road”; and another that appropriates $640,000 for construction.
Manville Place development pitched as effort to address ‘absolute crisis’ in Great Barrington rental market
When Framework Properties first proposed the 47 Railroad Street project in Great Barrington, which included only 13 market-rate apartments, they learned that it was the first building permit taken out in the town for a structure containing four apartments or more since 1990.
‘Careful decision-making’ needed on Manville Place project
In a letter to the editor 10 residents of Manville Street write: “Taking over Manville Street from its current residents and creating a parking and traffic nightmare is absolutely the wrong way to do this.”
Life’s a Beech…Tree
The beech tree was very important hardwood here in the Berkshires, and the species is capable of living 300 years or more.