St. Stanislaus School benefit, 9 to 4 in Kolbe Hall, Adams. Bake sale, snack bar, games, Chinese auctions, money raffle, crafts, and pierogi.
Blackinton Union Church, 1373 Massachusetts Ave., North Adams; 10 to 2. Crafts table, bake sale, Chinese auction, the Christmas table, and kid's grab bag. Lunch $4, $2 kids.
First Congregational Church, North Adams, 9-2.
Nov. 28 Becket Federated Church, Route 8, holiday bazaar from 9-3. Lunch, crafts, baked goods, holiday and other items. Information: Mary Peltier, Parish House, 413-623-5217.
Dec. 5
Holiday Fair at First Congregational Church, 25 Park Place, Lee, from 10 to 3; handcrafted items, raffles, children's shop, bake sale, cut Christmas trees and lunch from 11 to 1. Includes angel-themed goods from SERRV. Information, 413-243-1033 or www.ucc-lee.org.
Dec. 12-13
North Adams Country Club, crafts 9-4; food from That's a Wrap from 11-2. Information: Sheryl Morehouse at 413-822-3329.
Planning a bazaar this season? Submit information to info@iberkshires.com to have it listed here.
We're trying out blogs to offer shorter, easy-to-find news. Let us know what you think.
Send press releases and announcements to info@iberkshires.com. Need to contact someone at iBerkshires? Here's how.
Mammography Dispute The government's issued controversial new guidelines stating that women shouldn't get annual mammograms until age 50, rather than age 40.
iBerkshires will be meeting with local medical experts Monday. Have a question you'd like answered on this issue? Send it info@iberkshires.com with "mammogram" in the subject line.
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff 01:57AM / Friday, March 20, 2009
Cathy Garnett of Department of Conservation and Recreation ponders a question at Thursday's Greylock Glen Advisory Committee. Top, Steven Derdiarian of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. goes over changes to the design.
ADAMS, Mass. — The Greylock Glen's future as a cross country ski center will depend on how the state's environmental watchdog views the miles of paths that circle the 50-acre site.
If the agents of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act decide that the trails can categorized as a "disturbance" of the land, it could mean limiting skiing to 2 or 3 miles within the central development area and curtailing the already designed network of trails around its perimeter.
The red flag was raised at a meeting with Department of Environmental Protection on Wednesday to prepare for the MEPA submissions, said Cathy Garnett, project design director for the Department of Recreation and Conservation.
"We may have to make a major decision on cross country skiing versus no cross country skiing," she told the Greylock Glen Advisory Committee on Thursday. "Basically, a hiking system versus an expanded trail for cross country skiing ... How they calculate disturbance will have a dramatic affect on the trail system."
If MEPA determines the trail system constitutes a disturbance it will put the development over 50 acres, triggering the need for an environmental impact report. Or, said Garnett, they could issue a waiver or decide trails aren't a disturbance. "We really don't know," she said. "We have to get a direct statement from MEPA."
A cross country ski center is one of the focal points in the planned development of the glen, which will also include a fully accessible, 130-unit rustic campground and ampitheater, environmental education center and lodge.
But there apparently no one had thought about how the trail system and the 30-acre core development would be seen together by MEPA. Effort had gone into reducing the size and impact of the core even as Hodson & Associates Inc. revised and reduced a series of trails of various sizes on 31 acres that connect to the Mount Greylock State Reservation.
Above, a rendering of the core development; below a closeup of the rustic camping area. To minimize impact, vehicles will be limited to a parking area and campers will walk ito the clustered sites
Depending on MEPA's ruling, 10 acres and miles of trail could be cut from the project.
"I don't think anyone wants to get rid of the trails," said Community Development Director Donna Cesan, but added "No one in the Northeast is making any capital investments in ski or snow making facilities."
Steven Derdiarian of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., the core development's designer, said other aspects of the plans seemed well-received by DEP, such as green roofs, rain gardens, water and silt management, erosion control and procedures to minimize the impact of construction on the land. Some tweaking of access roads and a parking area, and uses near waterways have been done to further limit disturbance.
The affect on the town's waste-water treatment plant should be a "drop in the bucket," he said.
Fire protection, however, is problem because the pumping station at the bottom of Gould Road is in "seriously degraded condition" based on a 2004 report. Derdiarian said options were a stand-up pipe, an overhaul of the pumping station and lines or, the preferred option, a 30x30x15 underground reservoir that was more cost-efficient and would not have a major impact on the land.
Garnett also reported that the botanical survey had gone well. There were some concerns over two areas that would be reviewed again in the spring. If OK'd, the project would not need a conservation management program.
Community Development Director Donna Cesan suggested a public hearing in the evening for more public input on the trails. It was decided to hold off until MEPA gave some indication of its thinking on the trail system.
Garnett said she may begin Friday on setting a preliminary meeting with MEPA. She and Derdiarian said they were meeting with other stakeholders in the process before submitting documents to MEPA in the next month or so.
"We're trying to touch all the bases so by the time we meet with MEPA, we will have a very strong comfort level," said Garnett.
Anything the state can do to prohibit an eco-friendly revenue source for Adams seems to be the way to proceed. Let people get out and exercise! Perhaps if the state could tax it at 85% they would approve it.
from: Peter
on: 04-23-2009
Between our governor finding ways to tax us and the MEPA trying to control us, no wonder we are loosing jobs and people. The environmentalists in this state are burring our economy. Lowes and other businesses and now Greylock Glen are falling pray to absolute foolishness.
The Glen has been set back so many times that I wonder why anyone even wants to try anymore. It’s very discouraging when they nit pick this excellent project into oblivion. This is a project that will create jobs and income for our area and taxes for Boston. The Glen keeps changing its looks to satisfy the politicians in Boston who couldn’t care less about us here in Northern Berkshire. We need help, not roadblocks.
from: gnb
on: 03-31-2009
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