By Patrick Donges
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-976514.mp3
North Adams, MA – About 30 people from across Berkshire County, and some from as far away as Pownal and Albany, came to the parish center of All Saints Church in North Adams Wednesday evening to attend the first of three initial visioning meetings to be held by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, or BRPC, on their update to the county's regional comprehensive plan.
The county is one of only 45 regions across the country to receive a "Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant" through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The meeting began with participants viewing posters showing data on the county related to several topics; from land use, economic development, and transportation to open space, arts and cultural venues, and agriculture. Sticky note pads and pens were provided for residents to submit suggestions of issues to address in each category.
BRPC senior planner and project leader Amy Kacala then gave a presentation on some of the "key trends" planners are hoping to address.
"One is (the) economy in transition. Between 2000 and 2008 there was a 22 percent loss of manufacturing jobs; but there are emerging opportunities, there are several clusters."
Those clusters include agriculture, hospitality, retail, education and healthcare, with the latter two categories making up the bulk of the jobs in the county, due in large part to the presence of Berkshire Health Systems, which manages hospitals in Pittsfield and Great Barrington.
"Next is an aging demographic. In the 70s we had a huge bubble of youth, and now it's much lower and then you have an older demographic. So basically our whole age bubble has moved; we've lost the youth."
"Population since 1970 has decreased steadily. We lost almost 4,000 people between 2000 and 2010, however, in that time we gained 2,200 new housing units. We're losing population and adding units."
Kacala said that trend, and another trend that showed average home prices far outpacing the county's median wage, could be attributed in part to the prevalence of those who maintain a second residence in the Berkshires.
The only direct data correlation was made between the sizes of communities and how their population has shifted over the past ten years.
"Communities with a population under 1,000 are the ones who gained the most in terms of total new people, and then the biggest losses occurred in our largest communities. The smaller you were the more people were going there."
After the presentation, meeting attendees were formed into workgroups and asked to discuss and record their "vision" of development in each of the categories, and to identify what they believed should be the top three issues focused on by planners
One thing agreed on by all the groups was that the issues being discussed were all interconnected. Here's North Adams resident Michael Bedford.
"We wanted to talk about the economy as one of the major priorities, but we couldn't figure out what's the key solution. We talked about an economy that's based in dignity, viability and has a soul."
"One of the core things we saw for North Adams that tied all this together was a vibrant community. Making sure that everybody was represented, and those voices were the new people, the people that have been here forever; to make sure that it was all heard."
Bedford's group also had a proposal related to the county's second homeowners.
"You tax the permanent residents at a lower rate and the part-time residents at a higher rate."
Williamstown resident Wendy Penner's group discussed economic development.
"We want the arts to play a role in that. We want energy and climate, being sort of a green destination, but not necessarily wanting to bring people from all over the world to us, because we know there are going to be these energy issues."
Jana Hunkler Brule of the town of Florida discussed agricultural issues with her group.
"Increasing local food production so we can feed the people that are here, having more opportunities for affordable land so that more farms could start, and ways to preserve our food locally."
Diverse and connected neighborhoods, local economy and food production, energy production, and climate change mitigation seemed to be the top issues discussed among attendees. Lauren Stevens, of Williamstown, summed the priorities of his workgroup as three "themes."
"Enhance and preserve natural communities, cooperative active lifestyle, and locality."
The BRPC will hold their next two visioning meetings next week in Pittsfield and Great Barrington.