Marchetti Honors Pittsfield Athletes at City CouncilBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
05:38PM / Friday, March 15, 2024 | |
 The mayor took time during Tuesday night's City Council meeting to recognize the city's winning high school sports teams. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Tuesday's City Council meeting began with a roar as several high school athletes were honored for their accomplishments.
Mayor Peter Marchetti delivered proclamations to the Taconic High School hockey team and bowling team as well as an individual from the Pittsfield High School bowling team. Each excited a round of applause from students, friends, and families who filled council chambers.
"Tonight is a night of great pride for the city of Pittsfield when we can honor literally dozens of Pittsfield and Berkshire County youth for the good work they do," Marchetti said.
"One thing I hear as mayor all the time is there is nothing for kids to do in the city of Pittsfield and I think the dozens of youngsters behind me, young adults I should say, have proven that to be a false statement."
The Taconic Thunder hockey team won the Western Massachusetts champions title last month, defeating the Ludlow Lions 3-2 after Brayden Bishop during the Class B Championship Game in West Springfield.
Marchetti pointed out that this is the first Western Mass title earned by the Taconic hockey team since the early 1970s, commending the players and coaches.
The team is comprised of students from schools across the county including Taconic, Lenox, Monument Mountain, Mount Everett, PHS and Wahconah.
Marchetti then turned to the Taconic bowling team.
"Now to the sport that is not a sport," he joked, pointing to his tenure of coaching youth bowling.
On March 2, the team secured first place in the state tournament's B Division in Chicopee where senior Mitch McCann was named the MVP of the B flight after leading his team to 2-0 wins in the semi-finals and finals over a pair of teams from St. John's of Shrewsbury.
Bella Kotek was the MVP of the A Division after rolling strikes on three of her four balls in the title match.
Marchetti said he is a proud mayor, having coached many of the youth bowlers, and commended the team coaches as well.
PHS bowler Matt Dupuis won the individual high school state bowling championship on March 3 in Chicopee, defeating Auburn's Nate Mahoney, 163-144.
Wearing a purple shirt, Marchetti joked that he is in solidarity with Dupuis in PHS colors.
In other news, a petition from Councilor at Large Earl Persip III, Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren, and Ward 4 Councilor James Conant that substitutes the council as the special permit granting authority for commercial/industrial scale battery energy storage systems and facilities was referred to the Community Development Board.
Last month, a proposal to add a battery energy storage system overlay, or BESS, district was approved.
This provides regulatory procedures for BESS and BESS facilities, outlines the application process for site plan approval and special permit applications, specifies which districts are comparable with the use, discusses site requirements for each district where it is permitted, and requires that interested departments respond with comments and concerns within 14 days of the application.
It includes guidelines for residential-scale, small-scale, and commercial/industrial-scale BESS that fall within the boundaries of the overlay district. In the proposed ordinance, the infrastructure is not allowed in various places such as flood hazard zones, parks and open spaces, historical or indigenous land, and conservation areas.
It states that the Community Development Board will handle the special permit for BESS systems after being signed off by all appropriate departments. At the time of the approval, Persip said he would like to see an amendment that requires the council to make the final approval for the permit.
"This is one of those rare uses that the public oversight would be best served by having the decision rest in the discretion of the City Council," the petition reads.
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