Town of Williamstown Votes Overwhelmingly to Support Cable Mills.

March 16, 2007

Town of Williamstown Votes Overwhelmingly to Support Cable Mills. The Town of Williamstown voted overwhelmingly at its Annual Town Meeting to provide community support to the Cable Mills project to advance the historic preservation, open space, and affordable housing goals at the Water Street site.

Through the Massachusetts Community Preservation Act, cities and towns in Massachusetts are able to adopt a real estate tax surcharge of up to 3% in order to fund three critical community purposes: open space, historic preservation, and community housing. Williamstown voted to enact the program in 2002.

Cable Mills represents one of the rare opportunities to achieve all three of the goals of the Community Preservation Act on a grand scale, and the Town has voted to provide $1,525,000 to support these goals at Cable Mills:

• Open space: a publicly accessible riverwalk is planned for the entire length of the Green River along the Cable Mills site, opening up this beautiful stretch of the river to the community for the first time in over 50 years;

• Historic Preservation: the three original, historic mill buildings are being preserved and restored in a historically appropriate manner. As the last remaining mill building in Williamstown, these represent a value link to Williamstown’s New England industrial past that was in danger of being lost, but will instead be preserved for generations to come;

• Community Housing: 12 of the homes being created at Cable Mills will be made available to individuals and families earning 80% or less of the area median income. As home prices in the Berkshires (and in Williamstown especially) have continued to rise, yet local incomes have remained steady, this will provide a much needed boost to Williamstown’s affordable housing stock.

“We are enormously grateful for and humbled by the commitment that the Williamstown community has demonstrated in support of Cable Mills,” said Bart Mitchell, President of Mitchell Properties. “It’s clear from this support that the revitalization of this community asset is something that is the people of Williamstown have envisioned for a long time now – and thanks in no small part to the Town’s support, we will be able to make that vision a reality in the near future.”