Lanesborough Police Station Site Needs Geotechnical Survey

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — A request that the town transfer $40,000 from the stabilization fund so the town can retain services from Jacunski Humes Architects will be added to the town meeting warrant for June 13. 
 
The Select Board approved adding this request to the warrant during its meeting on May 30, Public Safety Building Committee chair Mark Siegars said during its meeting last week. 
 
"It just takes a vote to take it out and let us finish this work so we are not asking them to raise and appropriate the taxes. It's just money that's sitting in a savings account for the purposes of the police station," Siegars said.
 
The town has already allocated $108,000 in stabilization funds for the police station so the approval of this warrant article would not impact the tax rate, he said. 
 
The proposed location for the public safety building, Skyline Country Club, will need geotechnical engineering to determine if it is a suitable building, said Brian Humes, principal of Jacunski Humes Architects.
 
The geotechnical engineering takes three borings at the locations across the site. The test costs $7,500 to do the borings and to prepare a report, Humes said. 
 
"Quite frankly, if it turns out we can build the building there then we got to start thinking about something completely different. I don't suspect that we won't be able to put a building in there, may just take deeper footings," Siegars said.
 
"But I think that's really an important question and the town does own the real estate, the ARPA funds have already been allocated to the boring tests. So the town doesn't have to spend any money that hasn't already been allocated for it."
 
After the completion of the boring tests, there is $7,900 left after that for design work, Siegars said.
 
The test tells the structural engineer what to anticipate for footing and foundation and if the soil is unsuitable for building and needs to be removed. 
 
"The reason that I recommended that this be done on the Skyline site is it's pretty evident that there's been an area of fill on the lower section of what was the driving range. You can see some elevated ground elevations that leveled off where the driving range was," Humes said.
 
Although the site will fit the building work, Humes concern is that they are not sure what the conditions of the fill material is and what was brought in to make the site level. 
 
The test needs to be conducted prior to building because if something degradable, like tree stumps, was used as fill then over time it would decay and the land would start to settle. 
 
"If they filled it with great structural fill and topsoil it can withstand normal footings and foundations," Humes said. 
 
If it is determined that the soil is unsuitable that does not mean the site can’t be developed there it just means the fill would have to be removed and replaced with something new which would impact the cost of the development, he said. 
 
The geotechnical engineer would need about two weeks notice but they are still available to go to the site and complete testing. The engineer sent insurance certificates to the town naming Lanesborough as an additional insurer within their insurance certificate, Humes said. 

Tags: Lanesborough Police Station,   town meeting 2023,   

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Pittsfield Looks to Update Zoning for ADUs

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Accessory dwelling units will be by-right in early 2025 and the city wants to be prepared.

On Tuesday, the Community Development Board voted to become the petitioner for amendments to the City Code that reflect the new ADU legislation. City Planner Kevin Rayner has crafted a draft ordinance that the board will dig into before it goes to the City Council.

As a part of the $4.1 billion Affordable Homes Act signed into law over the summer, ADUs up to 900 square feet can be built by right in single-family zoning districts.

"This legislation will go into effect February 2, 2025, so we're trying to get our ordinance to accommodate ADUs by that point," Rayner said.

"Our ordinance wasn't prohibitive against accessory dwelling units, but we do need to up our dimensional requirements to kind of accommodate for them as they are, sort of like an accessory structure, in a way but they have some different requirements because they are being used as a dwelling."

The city plans to allow ADUs in a one- to two-family residential use, allowing for duplexes that meet other requirements to have one.

Most of the amendments will take place in Article 23 Section 9.101, which outlines restrictions for accessory buildings.  

"They're mostly dimensional. We're going to make it so that maybe you can't take up more than 20 percent of the lot coverage," Rayner said.

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