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The Selectmen meet Wednesday at Town Hall.
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The Adams Street Fair presents checks to Adams emergency services personnel.

Adams Officials Approve Coal and Grain Park Project

By Gregory FournieriBerkshires Staff
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The town is moving forward to create a park at the old Hoosac Valley Coal & Grain site but there isn't enough grant funding to study the building.

ADAMS, Mass.—The Select Board on Wednesday approved plans for the proposed Coal and Grain Park on Cook Avenue. The park, which is part of a package deal with low-income housing grants and funded by federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), has been in the works since 2017.

"I think this is just another step in the right direction," said Selectman Joseph Nowak while the Board deliberated during the public hearing. "I hope we can get what we're looking for."

The proposed park will abut the Ashuwilticook Rail Trail and will have as one of its central features the Coal and Grain Elevator building. The historic building was used to store coal and grain, but now sits as a relic off Columbia Street.

The park will cost $411,000, including more than $30,000 for an accessible ramp that connects to the rail trail. Selectman Richard Blanchard expressed concern about this cost, especially in light of the Department of Community Development's recent realization that it had access to only $800,000 in grant funding.

Previously, the department thought the town would be eligible for $1.35 million in grant funding. "We're back to the drawing board," said the department's director, Eamonn Coughlin, at the time.

Before it learned of the reduced funding, the department had planned on incorporating the historic building more directly into the park's design. In order to do that, however, a study would have to be done of building's stability. The cost of this study was incorporated into the higher grant budget but was scrapped when the budget was updated.

Blanchard said he would have preferred for the $30,000 spent on the ramp — which is not an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirement — to be spent on determining whether the building was stable. He said he examined the structure recently from the outside and noted that there were holes in the sides that could cause safety hazards.

Despite this minor pushback, all members of the board unanimously voted in favor of the CDBG proposal. It also includes $240,000 for housing unit rehabilitation; $56,000 for staff costs; and $51,000 for administrative costs like accounting and oversight.

The board also invited representatives of the Adams Street Fair to present oversized checks to emergency services personnel. The Fire Department, Police Department, the Forest Wardens and ambulance service all received checks of $850.

Joseph Martin, chairman of the fair, told the town and the Selectmen, "from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you."

In other business:

  • McCann Technical School and Berkshire Arts & Technology Public Charter School were both given the green light to host cross country running meets at the Greylock Glen during weekday afternoons in September and October.
  • Town Administrator Jay Green announced that the L.L. Bean popup store will be at the Visitors Center this Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 4.
  • Green also announced that the Poseidon Coffee Kiosk was constructed at the Visitors Center this week.

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Adams Recycling Efforts Paying Benefits

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — The town is doing well in terms of its trash management and recycling efforts. 
 
"Your recycling has definitely increased, and you're doing wonderful, Linda Cernik, program coordinator of the Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District, said. "You have a 69 percent recycling ratio to your trash."
 
Cernik was giving an update to the Board of Selectmen at its meeting Wednesday. Adams is one of 14 towns that participant in the regional waste district. 
 
"Adams is the second-largest scrap metal recycler in the district with some 38 tons of scrap metal and the town made over $2,000," she said at Wednesday's meeting. "Textile recycling, you're the highest in the district. You've had over 17,000 pounds of textiles diverted from the waste stream, and brought in $1,200."
 
The town has diverted some 119 tons in "commingled" recyclables of paper, plastic and glass and trash collected was 172 tons. 
 
It also received a sustainable recovery materials grant of $4,550 through the Recycling Dividends Program, or RDP. The state grant is allocated on a point system using a criteria of waste diversion and number of households served. This past year's points were worth $325 and Adams scored 14 points. 
 
"This year, if you reach 10 and up, you'll get $600 a point," said Cernik. "So my goal is to work with all of the towns to try to get you as many points possible to increase your reward for MassDEP so you can put it back into your recycling programs. So kudos to the town. You're doing very well."
 
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