Editor’s note: This week and last week, the Greenfield Recorder is running a series of articles on what residents can likely expect in 2021. This next installment focuses on some of the towns in the western part of Franklin County.
With 2020 now behind them, town officials in the western portion of Franklin County are looking forward to a year of new projects and finalizing those that have long since been in the making.
For Colrain and Charlemont, that includes the finalization of broadband projects — both of which are several years in the works.
“We hope to wrap up, hopefully by spring or summertime, … our broadband project, which a lot of towns in the area are also doing,” said Colrain Town Administrator Kevin Fox. “That will be the culmination of about seven years of work, so we’re pretty excited about that.”
In Charlemont, Selectboard Chair Marguerite Willis said her town expects to go live with broadband in late spring.
“We’re hoping with broadband, people will reconsider living in this area if they can work from home,” Willis said.
The year ahead will concentrate largely on the town’s infrastructure, according to Willis.
“We’re just getting systems in place to go forward into the new century,” she said.
With the new year, the town will see the beginning of Phase II of the state Department of Transportation’s Route 2 Calming Project, as well as the completion of it, Willis said.
The project includes the reconstruction of the highway to draw attention to drivers to slow down on Route 2 as they enter the town center. It also includes the resurfacing of the road and new sidewalks.
“We’re hoping with the village calming project being finished, then the restaurants can open again and we’ll have more life downtown,” Willis noted.
The town, in conjunction with other interested groups, will continue addressing river issues, she said.
“The river is a big one — it’s not one issue; it has multiple parts,” she said. “The key, from my perspective, is getting the recreation tax.”
Town Meeting voters approved the recreation tax in November, allowing the town to pursue petitioning the state Legislature for the law.
As for other long-term goals and priorities, Charlemont continues its work on bridges that the state has identified as requiring improvements.
“One project is building off of another,” Willis said. “They’re contingent; you can’t close two bridges at the same time.”
Charlemont also plans to welcome former Selectboard member Sarah Reynolds as the first town administrator in two years.
Buckland, too, has its sights set on at least one major road improvement project in the new year.
“Buckland will do a road reconstruction project on the lower portion of Charlemont Road from Upper Street to Avery Road,” said Town Administrator Heather Butler. “That will include repairs to the partially collapsed culvert at Avery Road.”
She said the town hopes to receive a Community Development Block Grant to fund the project. The funding, if awarded, would be used in conjunction with existing Complete Streets money to re-do the road, replace utilities, improve drainage and widen sidewalks.
The town also plans to replace the basketball courts at the recreation area on Ashfield Road. The Recreation Committee continues to raise money to support the replacement of the public pool, too.
Efforts made in 2020 on finding ways to improve services for seniors will continue into 2021, Butler said, noting that the Buckland Selectboard meets regularly with members of the Ashfield and Shelburne selectboards to work with the Senior Center Expansion Committee.
And finally, she hopes to see a project that was “wholly interrupted” by the pandemic resume with the new year.
“We were meeting to look at various town-owned properties for locations for community solar projects,” she said, explaining that the project entails identifying potential locations for roof or ground-mounted solar projects.
As other town officials noted, Butler noted that re-examining the budget process will be a top priority in 2021.
“We have so many unknowns going into the fiscal 2022 budget process,” Butler said. “Our Finance Committee and Selectboard are taking this opportunity to … meet with department heads and to evaluate operational and personnel needs.”
Shelburne Selectboard member Andrew Baker said the new year will be “a bit like cleaning up after a microburst hit your town.”
“We’re looking forward to a time when we can gather together in person,” he said.
With that, Baker said, will come the full reopening of the senior center. Like Buckland and Ashfield, Shelburne will also continue to address the question of a new or expanded senior center in the new year.
“Hopefully, we’ll make some progress on that at the Town Meeting this coming year,” he said. “I think that’s one big project for Shelburne, Ashfield and Buckland.”
Furthering progress on the Memorial Hall theater renovation will also be brought back from the back-burner it was placed on when theaters closed.
“We also submitted a grant application to the (Massachusetts) Downtown Initiative, which is a branch of the state Department of Housing and Community Development,” Baker said. “We’re hoping to get our businesses open and thriving again and the tourism economy that has been pretty quiet this past year.”
The town also plans to reapply for a grant to reconstruct and pave Little Mohawk Road, and to forward progress on the inventory of abandoned and tax-default properties.
“That’s been a many-year process of moving things through land court,” he said.
Baker also hopes to start an energy committee so the town can pursue new, competitive grants to “build on the work we’ve done already.”
In addition to the finalization of the broadband project, Colrain is looking forward to the Village Intersection Improvement Project — another project Fox said is about seven years in the making. The federally funded project calls for an expanded common area, as well as new paving and new sidewalks.
Fox expects construction to begin next spring.
“Those two things are still going to require quite a bit of work to get to the finish line,” Fox said, referring to both the intersection project and the broadband project.
The budget, too, will be a focus this year, as there are still unknowns as to the economic fallout of the pandemic.
“Hopefully, it won’t be too bad,” he said. “But you never know.”
Otherwise, Fox said, the town’s priority is getting through the public health crisis “and getting life back to normal.”
“That’s been pretty much everybody’s focus — keeping everybody safe and continuing services,” he said.
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne