ADAMS -- Development officials got the nod from Selectmen to take a swing at applying for 2012 MassWorks Infrastructure grant money at Wednesday night’s board meeting.
The magic number, says Director of Community Development Donna Cesan, is $2 million -- or, the exact amount needed to finish phase two of the planned infrastructure improvements at the Greylock Glen.
Due to a high volume of applications and a "very competitive" awarding process, Cesan hopes to keep the request as near to the flat $2 million as possible.
" ... Even below," Cesan said at the meeting. "I’ve told [planners] to sharpen the pencil and take another look to see if we’re able to reduce costs."
Phase two, Cesan said, includes the placement of a 400,000 gallon water tank along Thiel Road, in addition to water main, sewer, drainage and road work there.
Road and utility improvements undertaken in phase one of the project -- under way now and expected to be complete by the close of this construction season -- were enabled by $2 million the town received in Gov. Deval Patrick’s 2011 Supplemental Budget.
The initial estimate of the total infrastructure improvements planned for the site was $4.5 million, but thanks to a low bid from developer D R Billings Inc of Lanesborough, the town was able to instruct the contractor to take on an extra $500,000 in work.
Cesan serves as the Greylock Glen project manager and has worked
According to Cesan, the town is also at work on a deal with the Adams Fire District and the Prudential Committee to include the new water mains, tank and lines at the Glen in the district’s regular maintenance operations.
MassWorks applications are due this year between Monday, Aug. 27, and Monday, Sept. 10. If received, Cesan said the completion date for phase two work would be June 2014.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, Selectmen approved the ap pointment of attorney Donald Dubendorf of Dubendorf Law in Williamstown as a special municipal employee charged with legal work related to the Glen project.
"We’re getting into the part of the project where there’s going to be a need for quite a lot of legal work," Cesan said. "We felt like we needed to hire someone else, given the workload."
Dubendorf will work on a master lease of the Glen with the state and leases with private groups interested in taking on some of the other developments included in the overall Glen project.
"[Dubendorf] is very, very knowledgeable of permitting in general and well-connected with folks in the development area and various types of land use," Selectmen’s Chair Arthur "Skip" Harrington said. "We’re lucky to get him."
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