Letter: Support for Williamstown Planning Board Recommendations

To the Editor:

I support the Williamstown Planning Board's bylaw recommendations. They represent a good first step towards reducing the artificial barriers in our decades-old zoning map.

While some have criticized the board for moving too fast, I found the process deliberate and thorough. The board engaged the community in an open discussion. There was a spirited debate, with many opportunities for community input. The original proposal was changed in response to suggestions received along the way, which reflected the board's willingness to listen and respond to the community.

The final product (1) removes barriers for apartments above businesses and small scale multi-unit homes, (2) permits more density in the center of town where there is existing infrastructure, (3) reduces lot sizes to promote more diverse housing options (4) allows for the conversation of former hotels for assisted living facilities, and (5) removes directive language that requires the zoning board look unfavorably on any extension of the town's utilities, even it helped increase housing opportunities. These are common sense approaches to the housing challenges we face in town.

Fred Puddester
Williamstown, Mass.

Williams College Lone Suitor for Development of Water Street Lot

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
11:15AM / Thursday, April 16, 2026

Williams College hopes to replace the current Facilities Services building on Latham Street and use that space for a new  athletics complex. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — If the town accepts an offer from Williams College, a 1.27-acre lot that long has been eyed as a possible venue for housing and economic development instead will find a use similar to its history.

 

The college was the lone respondent to the town's request for proposals to purchase and develop 59 Water St., a dirt lot known around town as the "old town garage site." This was first reported Wednesday by Greylock News. 

 

If successful, the college plans to use the former town garage property for the school's Facilities Services building. Or it could be turned back into a parking lot.

 

Williams' offer includes a $500,000 upfront payment and a 10-year agreement to make $50,000 annual donations to the Mount Greylock Regional School District according to the proposal unsealed on Wednesday afternoon.

 

If it closes the deal, the college said it will explore development of a three- to four-story Facilities Services building with "a structured parking facility providing approximately 170 spaces."

 

"[I]f site constraints impact our ability to develop both structured parking and the Facilities Services building, our backup proposal is to develop the parking structure with approximately 170 spaces, also with capacity to support institutional and public needs," the college's proposal reads.

 

The college's current Facilities property at 60 Latham St. has an assessed value — for the .42-acre lot only — of $113,000 and an annual property tax bill of $1,606, according to the town's website.