Berkshire Enviromental Action Team is sending this special announcement of a presentation hosted by the Ecovillage proponents to help boost public awareness. It is not a BEAT-endorsed event.

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A public forum for discussing the

Greylock Glen Ecovillage project

Greylock Glen is a 1,060 acre parcel of land in Adams, Massachusetts at the eastern base of Mount Greylock, Massachusetts tallest mountain. The Glen is a beautiful location that has been proposed as the site for various development schemes.

The town’s Master Plan for commercial development of an Outdoor Center and simple campground on DCR land underwent MEPA review about 12 years ago. All these years later, it had now garnered interest from a high-end rental property developer, not for the tent sites and “rustic cabins” cited in the original Master Plan, but for two story homes and single story “Mirror Houses” glad in mirrored glass with full utilities and amenities, a number of permanently parked Air Stream RVs and a few tent sites.

A growing number of people from Berkshire County and beyond are concerned about the impacts of this new proposal:

- impacts of overdevelopment of this DCR-owned natural resource

- impacts to well established trails that would now be intersected by this development

- impacts to wildlife of having mirrored surfaces in a natural area

- impacts of full utilities running to the site including town water & sewer and gas lines

- economic impacts to the Environmental Justice community in which the Glen is located - given the reduction in number of affordable camping sites and overdevelopment of high-end rental properties

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This plan was presented to the town and voted on by the Select Board in December in a meeting with no more than a half-dozen members of the public present, most of whom learned about the vote by word of mouth. Given the 12 years lapse since MEPA review of the original plan, and the substantial change from that original plan, we have requested that they file a Notice of Project Change to the MEPA office. The town has declined.

Shared Estates, the proponents of high end “campground” plans at Greylock Glen, have announced an additional public meeting to discuss the project.

Date and time: March 23rd, at 5:30PM

Location: 39 Commercial Street, Adams, MA (formerly Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church)

There’s no word on whether or not Shared Estates or the Adams select board is notifying townspeople about this meeting by other means other than a Facebook post. This is important, since not everyone is on Facebook.

There is also no word on whether or not it will also be carried on Zoom, so people with mobility or immune issues can attend safely.

Any questions or concerns about the format of the meeting and public notification could be posted as comments on their Facebook page post (since that seems to be their preferred means of contact), or sent to Daniel Dus at Shared Estates - dd@sharedestatesfund.com.