WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College on Monday night announced plans to install a 6 foot-by-12 foot box culvert under downtown,
Williams College project manager Jason Moran explained to the Board of Selectmen that the college has put in motion a multi-phase plan that will alleviate flooding problems in and around Spring Street by, in part, replacing the undersized pipe that carries Christmas Brook under downtown and into the Green River to the east.
The inadequacy of the pipe that carries Christmas Brook under Williamstown has long been a vexing issue for residents in and around the Spring Street and Latham Street area.
"The pipe was put in at a time when people weren't quite as sophisticated about sizing the capacity of pipes," Williams College Director of Real Estate Jamie Art told the board. "When those pipes were put in, they put in the biggest pipe that would fit or whatever was lying around. We have a bottleneck somewhere on the east side of the Facilities Building, where water is forced into a 4-foot pipe, which is probably not enough for a one- or two-year storm."
The solution is obvious but far from easy: replace the culvert.
"The college has decided to bite the bullet and try to do everything it possibly can to come up with, hopefully, a permanent solution to this issue," Art said. "What the plan involves is a new culvert … that's sized properly, that's sized in connection with other stormwater infrastructure to handle a 100-year storm."
The culvert replacement, which goes approximately from the college's field house to a discharge point into the Green River, is part of a four-phase plan to address the entire stormwater issue at that end of town, Art and Moran explained.
Other aspects include restoring the Christmas Brook flood plain to the south and west, piping in Latham Street and lower Spring Street and an underwater stormwater detention system under the public parking lot that the college owns at the base of Spring Street.
"It's a big project, and it's going to be disruptive," Art said. "Plans are being developed to minimize disruptions, but, at the end of the day, we should have a system that will last for the rest of our lives."
Moran outlined some of the specifics of the plan, including what figures to be the most visible and potentially disruptive piece: the culvert replacement.
"It is a bottleneck at the 48-inch size pipe," he said. "At the end of the day, when trying to design for the 100-year flood event — with the actual volume given the watershed of Christmas Brook, this culvert should be 6 feet tall and 12 feet wide. That's a pretty big hole at the of the day when we start excavating.
"It's going to be a pretty good sized project."
Moran said the college planned to file paperwork with the various regulatory agencies involved — including the town's Conservation Commission on June 1 — with the hope of starting construction as soon as this fall.
"The culvert work is not dependent on season as much as other work because we'll be so deep in the ground that we'll be below the frost line," he said. "The goal is to complete all these projects sometime in 2019. That's a fairly aggressive construction schedule."
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Teacher of the Month: Frani Miceli
By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
Students say teacher Frani Miceli makes learning fun.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williamstown Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Frani Miceli has been selected as the July Teacher of the Month.
The Teacher of the Month series, in collaboration with Berkshire Community College, will run for the next 12 months and will feature distinguished teachers nominated by community members. You can nominate a teacher here.
Miceli has been teaching for 26 years and has worked to develop a happy, comfortable, and creative learning environment for her pupils.
Through her connection with her students and the decor on her classroom walls, Miceli hopes to help them realize that being kind is possible.
"I have a thing on my wall that says, 'Character is what you do when no one is watching.' So, I hope that they have internalized that," Miceli said.
"We make personal decisions because it's the right thing to do, and sometimes our actions can negatively impact other people, and sometimes they can positively impact other people. So I think happy kids make happy choices, and so I just want them to be happy, engaged children"
Every single one of her students in her morning math class jumped at the opportunity to praise their teacher.
The Select Board on Monday discussed how the town communicates to residents during an emergency and whether residents unaffiliated with Williams College should have access to the same information as college students and staff about incidents on campus. click for more
The Prudential Committee on Wednesday discussed the need for a policy for all call-volunteer firefighters who reach the state's mandatory retirement age.
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The Select Board on Monday was told that it should let the people who walk their dogs in the Spruces Park decide how the 114-acre town-owned park is managed. click for more
The exhibit "Fragile Beauty" fills the pavilion with glass objects from the Corning Museum of Glass, showcasing different cultures, time periods and techniques, and will run through Oct. 27.
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The Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday began its review of the development plan for a new Williams College Museum of Art at the junction of Routes 2 and 7. click for more