State Reviewing Dalton's Proposed Second Historical District

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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DALTON, Mass. — The State Historical Commission has received the preliminary documentation required in the process of establishing the town's second historical district. 
 
The proposed district starts at Park Avenue, where Main Street Cemetery is, and goes down to Depot Street. It then goes up High and North Streets.
 
Based on photos and by following the district subdivision plans or other development patterns, the state will determine whether there is enough historical significance to be considered a district. 
 
If they deem there is, the State Historical Commission will request an area form that they will use to evaluate the area for National Register eligibility, National Register Director Ben Haley in an email update to the commission.
 
"After we review the photographs, we may have questions about boundaries and may do a site visit," he said. 
 
The email did not include a timeline of this process, said town Historical Commission Secretary Nancy Kane. 
 
When the commission sent the files to the state, there was a request to define the area, Kane said. 
 
Kane said she defined it as a classic New England mill town characterized by residential areas, such as mill worker housing and homes of prominent citizens. 
 
Additionally, she demonstrated how the district had all the basic services and needs they would need to provide, such as schools, businesses, banks, and churches. 

Tags: historical commission,   

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Lanesborough Picks Information Panel for Public Safety Proposal

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The town has a public safety building proposal to present to taxpayers, and now, an informational committee will help move the process forward.

On Monday, the Select Board voted to form a public safety building informational outreach committee and re-appointed four members: Dean Clement, Daniel MacWhinnie, Mark Siegars, and Lisa Dachinger.

"The Public Safety Building Committee has done their job. Now we need, hopefully with some of those same bodies, to form a new committee of some type and move forward," Select Board member Timothy Sorrell explained.

Earlier this month, the town officials voted to advance a $7.3 million combined police/emergency medical services facility to town meeting, discarding the option for a $6.5 million separate build.  The same design, then priced at $5.9 million, was shot down in 2023.

"There is the option to go to what could be a debt exclusion, which requires a two-thirds majority at either a special town meeting or an annual town meeting, and that can be followed by inclusion in a ballot," Town Administrator Gina Dario said.

Siegars advised that if the question goes to a ballot first with a fixed project budget, that amount can't be changed for a subsequent special town meeting vote.

"In our discussions, there are committee members who are willing to stay on if you wanted to continue the committee or appoint to new one, who have volunteered to be involved with any public information sessions to try to answer the questions with the idea that that they would also explore further and work with Gina and town counsel on specifically what the question should be for a special town meeting, and if, if warranted a subsequent ballot vote," he reported.

Chairman Michael Murphy echoed the former committees' arguments that the town can't explore grants and financing until it has approved an amount.

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