Interprint Plans Additional Expansion

The L-shaped plant will be filled in (see the yellow) with a 57,500-square foot addition. That area, below, is partially used for parking that will be pushed farther back. 

 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Interprint is planning a fourth expansion of its Route 41 facility to increase production capacity.

Last week, the Community Development Board approved an amendment to its site plan that allows an approximately 57,500 square foot addition to the rear of the building.

The original decor printing facility was built in 2001 at around 131,000 square feet within a 78-acre property on Central Berkshire Boulevard. An addition was built on the back of the building in 2008 and additions were also added in 2016 and 2017.

The petition had been in the works for over a year.

"The reason that they're doing this is because they need to increase their production capacity and keep up with the products that they're making," project architect Timothy Eagles said.

"They originally were proposing it — their parent company was proposing — doing it in another location and fortunately the folks in Pittsfield convinced them that Pittsfield was the place to do it operationally for them as well as for continuity of their product and everything else."

The addition will fill in a back corner of the building where there is currently parking. The parking will be relocated behind the addition. The site will have 158 parking spaces after the construction, which exceeds its requirement of 130 spaces.

Board member Libby Herland observed that the site plan has been amended several times over the years.

Pittsfield City Council Weighs in on 'Crisis' in Public Schools

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
08:59PM / Monday, December 23, 2024

A half-dozen people addressed the City Council from the floor of Monday's meeting, including Valerie Anderson, right.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After expressing anger and outrage and making numerous calls for accountability and transparency, the 11 members of the City Council on Monday voted to support the School Committee in seeking an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct by staff members at Pittsfield High School that have come to light in recent weeks.

 

At the close of a month that has seen three PHS administrators put on administrative leave, including one who was arrested on drug trafficking charges, the revelation that the district is facing a civil lawsuit over inappropriate conduct by a former teacher and that a staff member who left earlier in the year is also under investigation at his current workplace, the majority of the council felt compelled to speak up about the situation.

 

"While the City Council does not have jurisdiction over the schools … we have a duty to raise our voices and amplify your concerns and ensure this crisis is met with the urgency it demands," Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey said.

 

About two dozen community members attended the special meeting of the council, which had a single agenda item.

 

Four of the councilors precipitated the meeting with a motion that the council join the School Committee in its search for an investigation and that the council, "be included in the delivery of any disclosures, interim reports or findings submitted to the city."

 

Last week, the School Committee decided to launch that investigation. On Monday, City Council President Peter White said the School Committee has a meeting scheduled for Dec. 30 to authorize its chair to enter negotiations with the Springfield law firm of Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas to conduct that probe.

 

Ward 7 Councilor Rhonda Serre, the principal author of the motion of support, was one of several members who noted that the investigation process will take time, and she, like Kavey, acknowledged that the council has no power over the public schools beyond its approval of the annual district budget.