Pittsfield Airport Navigation Easement Acquisitions Almost Closed

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Gale Associates updated the Airport Commission on the status of various projects during its meeting last week.  
 
The Runway 14 navigation easement acquisitions are almost closed. Gale Associates submitted the forms along with all the necessary backup documentation to the state Department of Transportation on March 10.
 
Once the city is reimbursed for the outstanding MassDOT balance, the project will be removed from Gale's update, civil engineer Mark Ottariano said. 
 
The permit design for tree clearing went out to bid starting March 29 and will remain open for three weeks, he said. 
 
The bids will be opened at City Hall on April 19 at 2 p.m. instead of 11 a.m. That was a recent change.
 
At the time of the meeting, there was one bidder who had pulled plans. Ottariano said Gail Associates will reach out to some of the contractors that it has worked with in the past to inform them of the project in case they missed the advertisement. 
 
The construction for the project was originally budgeted for $165,000. There were a couple of permitting things that drove the budget up to 200,000, including the added cost for herbicide. 
 
The $200,000 is a conservative estimate, Ottariano said. A more accurate construction cost will be available in a couple of weeks.
 
The Federal Aviation Administration split the removal project into a design only and construction phase. 
 
Gale Associates recently submitted its scope of services and fees for the construction phase of the projects and were sent out on for a Independent Fee Estimate on March 29. 
 
Once the IFE is returned and negotiations complete, the scope and fee will be finalized and will be submitted along with the construction costs based on the April 19 bids to the grant application that is due on May 5. 

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Belchertown Stops Pittsfield Post 68

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Belchertown Post 239’s Cooper Beckwith set the tone when he crushed the game’s first pitch to left-center field for a double.
 
The visitors went on to pound out 14 more hits in a 9-1 win over Pittsfield Post 68 in American Legion Baseball action at Buddy Pellerin Field on Monday night.
 
Beckwith went 3-for-4 with an RBI and scored twice, and Chase Earle went five innings on the mound without allowing an earned run as Post 239 improved to 15-0 this summer and completed a regular-season sweep of Post 68 (12-4).
 
“He’s a good pitcher,” Post 68 coach Rick Amuso said. “Good velo[city], kept the ball down. We didn’t respond.”
 
Pittsfield did manage to scratch out a run in the bottom of the fourth inning, when it already trailed, 7-0.
 
Nick Brindle reached on an error to start the inning. He moved up on a single by Jack Reed (2-for-2) and scored on a single to left by Cam Zerbato.
 
That was half the hits allowed by Earle, who struck out three before giving the ball to Alex West, who gave up a leadoff walk in the sixth and retired the next six batters he faced.
 
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