image description

Pittsfield City Hall Elevator Receiving $100k Upgrade

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Meetings were supposed to begin in person this month with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions but the City Council will again be meeting by Zoom on Tuesday instead of in its chambers.

That's because the elevator at City Hall is being renovated for Americans with Disabilities Act and fire code upgrades — leaving the stairs as the only access to the second-floor meeting rooms. Some commissions and boards are meeting  at other accessible locales or continuing on the Zoom platform.

The roughly $100,000 project is partially funded by a $70,000 ADA grant and the remainder will be funded by the city.  It is set to be finished by June 30.

The 1832 building's elevator will receive upgrades including new controllers, smoke and fire detectors, wheelchair accessibility modifications on the doors, instructions in Braille, and lowered accessible buttons.

Though the elevator cannot be used at this time, City Hall is open to the public and staff will come to the first floor to accommodate visitors who can't climb stairs.  

Michael Dean, the office manager for the Building and Grounds Maintenance Department, explained that the intent is to get all of the elevators in municipal buildings and the Pittsfield Public Schools renovated but money is an issue.

"The city filed for an ADA grant for the second time and we got approved this year, what's going on is we're doing a fire code up upgrade and an ADA upgrade so it's a benefit to everybody," he said.

"We wanted to try to do it last year but the other issue is that COVID was around, and manufacturing was down in a lot of places across the United States, including trying to get elevator parts."

The municipal building's elevator repair will cost about $100,000, which includes all of the upgrades and electrical work. Everything has to be completed by the end of the fiscal 2021, which ends on June 30.

"When you get a grant from the state or the federal government, you have to use it in the fiscal year, there are time limits," Dean said.


United Elevator Co. in Marshfield is doing the elevator work, Webster Electric LLC in Lanesborough has been contracted for the electrical work, and Lee Audio and Security in Lee is installing the fire alarms.

The elevator was out of commission from April 2018 to July 2018 after its hydraulic system gave out with people inside the elevator.  The city then hired Bay State Elevator to make repairs but finding parts was said to be difficult.

The project cost between $30,000 and $35,000.

Director of Maintenance Brian Filiault told iBerkshires in 2018 that a number of new pieces were retrofitted to fit. Particularly, the company struggled with acquiring one part which delayed repairs.

Dean said that work being done was not the cause of Tuesday's City Council meeting becoming virtual after it was originally scheduled to be in person.  

Reportedly, Gov. Baker's June 16 update extending the remote meeting provisions of his March 12, 2020, executive order -which suspended certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law- until April 1, 2022, was what charged the decision.

This new law allows public bodies to continue providing "adequate, alternative means" of public access to residents instead of holding meetings in a physical place.

iBerkshires has not yet received any information on whether the City Council plans to extend remote meetings or stick with their plan to return to City Council chambers following the repairs.


 


Tags: elevator,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Pittsfield Looks to Update Zoning for ADUs

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Accessory dwelling units will be by-right in early 2025 and the city wants to be prepared.

On Tuesday, the Community Development Board voted to become the petitioner for amendments to the City Code that reflect the new ADU legislation. City Planner Kevin Rayner has crafted a draft ordinance that the board will dig into before it goes to the City Council.

As a part of the $4.1 billion Affordable Homes Act signed into law over the summer, ADUs up to 900 square feet can be built by right in single-family zoning districts.

"This legislation will go into effect February 2, 2025, so we're trying to get our ordinance to accommodate ADUs by that point," Rayner said.

"Our ordinance wasn't prohibitive against accessory dwelling units, but we do need to up our dimensional requirements to kind of accommodate for them as they are, sort of like an accessory structure, in a way but they have some different requirements because they are being used as a dwelling."

The city plans to allow ADUs in a one- to two-family residential use, allowing for duplexes that meet other requirements to have one.

Most of the amendments will take place in Article 23 Section 9.101, which outlines restrictions for accessory buildings.  

"They're mostly dimensional. We're going to make it so that maybe you can't take up more than 20 percent of the lot coverage," Rayner said.

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories