Council Subcommittee OKs Pittsfield Affordable Housing Trust

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is looking to adopt an affordable housing trust to create and preserve accessible housing in the community.

On Monday, the Ordinances and Rules subcommittee unanimously voted in favor of the trust. It will be sent to the full council next week.

"Basically it's a mechanism that communities can adopt as a way to help create affordable housing, and there's a whole host of ways it can do that," City Planner CJ Hoss explained.  

"But the fund is overseen by a board of trustees, which would then be created by this ordinance if you adopt it, and this isn't something that's overly unique. There aren't many communities in the Berkshires that have it, but over 120 communities in Massachusetts have adopted an affordable housing trust fund. Locally, Williamstown, Great Barrington, and Lenox are the primary exemptions."

This proposal dates back to the re-zoning of Downtown Pittsfield as a creative district in April of last year. The new designation included an inclusionary zoning layer that required residential developers over a certain amount of units to provide affordable housing.

"This is a great ordinance," Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio said. "And we are in dire need of affordable housing in this community, there's too much market-rate apartments going up and not enough affordable housing going up."

An affordable housing trust fund is one of the prescriptive ways that a developer can meet that goal, Hoss explained, as they can contribute to it if they aren't going to provide affordable units.

At the time of the Downtown Creative District's approval, the city had not created a trust but promised that it would be done in the next year.

The creative district zoning aims to support a vibrant, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly urban downtown, determine the best way for the city of Pittsfield through its land-use boards to control the appearance of future development in the downtown, and replace existing overlay and underlying districts with a form-based code.

It removed and replaced the downtown arts overlay district and the downtown business zoning district.

Marchetti Details Six Months of 'Going Bold' at 1Berkshire Lunch

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:47AM / Monday, June 10, 2024

1Berkshire President and CEO Jonathan Butlers says the relationship between the business community and the new Pittsfield mayor is off to a good start. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Six months in, Mayor Peter Marchetti detailed his progress in plans to "go bold or go home" during a 1Berkshire luncheon last week.

"My motto over the past six months as some members of the [Pittsfield Economic Development Authority]and my business development director has heard, we're going to go bold, or we are going to go home," he said to a crowd of more than 120 at the Proprietor's Lodge on Wednesday.

"I have four years to make a difference. And I plan on making that difference in four years."

President & CEO Jonathan Butler said the relationship between the business community and elected leaders is critical to making progress and collective success.

"In the case of Mayor Marchetti, this relationship is already off to a strong start. The mayor comes into this position with a deep understanding of the importance of partnerships and the value of bringing different voices together to solve problems," he said.

"Additionally, the mayor's dual background of coming from a career in business, while also serving many years on the City Council and other public roles gives him a unique understanding of the importance of quality dialogue and partnership between the city and his business community."

Marchetti reported that the city's business development team is working on five sets of business prospects — including the first developer for Site 9 at the William Stanley Business Park. The 16 1/2-acre parcel has been a "blighted and sore spot in the community for many decades" but began its journey toward revitalization this year.

"I'm working with a Pittsfield Development Authority board to work on securing the future developer for this site and surrounding places and hoping that we'd be able to make that announcement very soon, as the negotiations are well underway," he said.