Pittsfield Historical Commission to Weigh In on Wahconah Park

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's Historical Commission will take on a conversation about Wahconah Park following an ask from the state Historical Commission to preserve its original structure.

Last week, it was announced that the Massachusetts Historical Commission "encourages consideration of project alternatives that would preserve the historic grandstand." ?

"I think that they perhaps didn't have enough context and the ability to really absorb the feasibility study, which is a very large document which detailed in a really robust way a lot of the structural issues that have been spoken about and how we've arrived at this alternative and sort of all the historical context we're trying to bring to this new design," Park, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath told the commission on Monday.

"So we're really looking to have a more thoughtful conversation with them around the whole full context of this project."

Planners were taken aback by the correspondence, as a raised and elevated option had been endorsed months ago, and Epsilon Associates was hired to guide these conversations.

"I think it's unreasonable to expect that the grandstand is going to be kept in any way," Commissioner Matthew Herzberg said. "For me, I mean, looking at this and knowing it as I do, that seems like a non-starter."

Though Herzberg did have criticisms of the $26.3 million design, such as its brick exterior and the pedestrian way from Wahconah Street that requires patrons to cross vehicular access.

"I questioned why brick is being used here and certainly being used in the volume that it is," he said.

"And I have nothing against brick in and of itself but this community doesn't necessarily have a strong brick-making tradition. This isn't Georgia. It's not Maryland. What we do have here is a history of wooden, steel grandstands."

Architect Salvatore Canciello explained that when the committee first had discussions about building materials, there was a preference for brick because felt it evoked the nostalgia for baseball that would last the next 100 years.

The team wants to replace the grandstands within the current footprint, reusing the current deep foundations and rebuilding it in the same configuration but adjusted slightly to meet the code and allow for more of a market use of the grandstand.

"One of the things that was talked about through that feasibility study and in the historic register is that really the environment created around the game and then nostalgia for the experience under the roof and in the bleachers was really considered by most of the people we've talked to during the process from the community as the important historic element of the project," he said.

"And something we wanted to kind of maintain or reestablish the best we could is really celebrating that nostalgia moving ahead."

The city has a preservation restriction on the building, meaning that the building and the site are on the National Register of Historic Places and the Mass Historical Commission's involvement comes into play when there are state permits needed for the project.

McGrath said a statement of support from the local commission might be of assistance. The panel agreed to have the conversation at a later meeting.

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.