BRPC to Help Lanesborough Develop Solar Overlay District

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The town is seeking help from the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to creating a zoning overlay to restrict areas for solar fields.

Consulting Planner Andrew Groff told the Planning Board on Monday that a state District Local Technical Assistance grant was received after it was applied for in February. With this program, BRPC staff provides technical assistance to communities at no cost on eligible projects.

BRPC will conduct a mapping analysis of the risk of solar developments on certain parcels and with the information from the study, the board will develop a solar overlay district that puts acceptable limits on solar panel fields.

The planners would like to prohibit solar fields from places where they will have a negative impact on the landscape.

"We have a planner from Berkshire Regional Planning, Cara Farrell, is going to be helping us with this concept of an overlay district for these big large-scale solar developments like we've seen along Route 7 the past couple of years," Groff explained.

"We are working on this concept of an overlay based on mapping that identifies our development pressure and scenic and sensitive landscapes that the town wants to protect, so it will accomplish two things: It will direct the development appropriately and also, perhaps make it slightly easier to permit, give everybody a clear path forward."

The town currently has four solar field developments that are allowed through special permit as long as development standards in the zoning have been met.

This has been a major concern to the board in the last couple of years because of development pressure from large solar concerns.

200 Pittsfield Students Walk for Men's Mental Health

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:20AM / Sunday, November 17, 2024

Reader's note: This article discusses suicide and mental illness.
 

Judy and Paul Coty, left, their daughter Veronica, Matt Capeless and PHS Principal Maggie Esko at the Movember gathering.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— Around 200 Taconic and Pittsfield high school students marched downtown to support men's health on Friday.

The third annual "Move for Movember" walk-a-thon raised money for mental health, as more than three of four suicides that occur in the United States are by men and boys. It also supported the Aaron T. Coty Memorial Scholarship, which honors a beloved student who died in 2015 after silently struggling with mental illness.

Each walker paid a $5 registration fee and was asked to raise an additional $20.

"I can still remember exactly where I was when I heard the news that Aaron died by suicide on Sept. 17, 2015. I could not believe it. It did not make sense. I didn't want to believe it but it was real, and it was something that we had to get through together," said Matt Capeless, Movember community ambassador and physical education and wellness teacher at Taconic High School.

"My friends and I struggled thinking about what we missed or what we could have done differently. We cried together and shared memories of the good times we had together. One thing was certain, we cannot go back in time."

Coty's family has attended suicide prevention walks for nine years and walked for Movember for the last three years.

"I wish Aaron had gotten help because we had no idea that he was struggling," his mother, Judy Coty, said.

"He was always smiling and happy and had tons of friends and was very outgoing and personable."