In November, Pittsfield voters will decide whether the city joins a state preservation program utilized by more than 160 communities.The citizens group Preserve Pittsfield is hopeful city voters will adopt the Community Preservation Act in November. Created in 2000, the law allows municipalities to create a preservation fund by adding a charge on property taxes. Adoption also gives those municipalities access to a pool of state money collected from real estate transactions statewide. John Dickson chairs the Pittsfield Historical Commission and is involved with Preserve Pittsfield. He says the money could be used for a number of projects in the Berkshires’ largest city.
“The city has an idea to do a riverway on the west side along the Housatonic [River] which would be beautiful,” Dickson. “It would attract a lot of people. Other people have talked to us about the track at Taconic High School. Others have talked about the need for a dog park. So there are a lot of possibilities and I’m just scratching the surface.”
Separate from the levy limit, adopting the CPA would place a 1 percent surcharge on tax bills with exemptions for low-income residents, low- to moderate-income senior citizens and on the first $100,000 of assessed property value. According to the Community Preservation Coalition this would mean a $14 annual increase for the average Pittsfield homeowner. Joe Durwin of Preserve Pittsfield and the Springside Park Conservancy says the city’s 240-acre park could benefit from CPA.
“Springside Park as a park and open space would be eligible for funding and also as a site that is on the National Historic Register and contains a historic mansion; it’s also a major preservation project,” said Durwin.
Pittsfield voters chose not to adopt CPA in 2006. Since then Dickson says rules have changed, making more open space and recreation programs eligible for funding, which Durwin says caters to a lot of needs.
“It’s about capital projects and improvements, but it’s also about the activities and programming that get families and children out into our parks which is really the lifeblood of the whole parks and recreation system,” said Durwin.
The coalition estimates the city would raise about $384,000 and, with the average 30 percent state match, have nearly half a million dollars each year to work with. The money would be administered by a community preservation council that consists of representatives of the city’s conservation and historical commissions, planning board, recreation and housing authority along with at-large seats. The committee would take project applications — not launch its own. To provide further context, I asked Dickson, what are the most notable structures that no longer stand in Pittsfield?
“If you ask nine out of 10 people in Pittsfield who have been here a while they’ll immediately go to a building that was torn down in the 1960s…the old Union train station which was a beautiful building near where the Big Y is,” Dickson said. “Others will point to the Wendell Hotel which would have been a beautiful historic hotel at the corner of Park Square.”
Dickson says the historical commission is undertaking a study of the 20 most endangered buildings in Pittsfield.
“My understanding is it includes buildings like the William Russell Alan House, the St. Joe’s covenant on North St., the Masonic Temple on South St. is for sale and a lot of the old mill structures could be turned into retail and apartment buildings.”
Durwin says roughly a dozen for and not-for-profit organizations are supporting Pittsfield’s CPA adoption including Hotel on North, a renovation project that opened in 2015.
“Which is a great example of a really vital commercial development that is a major historic project and a major preservation win for the city,” said Durwin.
