The Town will permanently close and ban parking in the empty lot off Water Street, colloquially known as the “dirt lot,” on March 1, the Williamstown Police Department (WPD) announced in a Facebook post on Feb. 22. Prior to the announcement, the Town generally did not ticket or otherwise regulate parking at the site, according to previous Record reporting. On March 1, the Department of Public Works will place a barrier around the entire site and the WPD will tow cars left in the lot at the owner’s expense, the department wrote.
Town Manager Bob Menicocci told the Record that he decided to restrict the use of the dirt lot due to general concerns over safety. After monitoring the lot last fall and winter, Menicocci identified several issues with the use of the space for parking, including mud, ice, and the absence of painted parking lines, which has led to cars being parked haphazardly and blocking others’ exits.
According to Menicocci, no particular incident led his office to close the lot. “The use of the lot as a parking lot was essentially being self-directed by anybody who was using it, and that’s problematic for the Town,” he said.
After monitoring the lot, Menicocci’s office also became concerned about the high volume of cars. “We realized there was a considerable amount of new use happening,” he said.
In an interview with the Record, WPD chief Mike Ziemba noted that Northern Berkshire EMS used to store vehicles, but no longer does, in the lot, but Menicocci said that was not a reason for the lot’s closure.
Although the dirt lot lacks paved parking spots or painted lines, users of the lot typically parked their cars in rows, according to Annabel Evison ’24, who has parked her car in the lot for the last two years. Since January, however, the dirt lot has become more disorderly.
“I don’t know what happened… Progressively, the rows started becoming more diagonal,” Evison said. “It just became a mess.”
Conditions at the lot also caused challenges for the WPD. Ziemba underscored that the lack of markings and signage as well as the rough terrain created unsafe conditions in the dirt lot. “The lot is nearly impossible to regulate at this time without major changes and perhaps issuing tickets, which we do not want to do,” Ziemba wrote in an email to the Record.
“Currently, without any direction via pavement markings, cars very frequently get boxed in or park so as to block ingress and egress, which has its dangers,” Ziemba wrote. “A few times now, [W]PD with the assistance of [Campus Safety Services (CSS)], has had to try to get several cars moved so that someone can get out.” This was also, he added, a reason Northern Berkshire EMS removed their vehicles from the lot as well.
Still, Ziemba emphasized that Menicocci alone has authority over the closure of the dirt lot. “This is a decision that is ultimately made by the Town Manager as the lot is owned by the Town,” Ziemba wrote.
According to Menicocci, the College did not ask to postpone the closure of the lot. “There may have been informal conversations, but no request was made of my office in that nature,” he said.
The Town also never asked the College if it would like to lease or purchase the space, Menicocci said, nor did the College make any request to do so.
Menicocci said that his office currently does not have plans for the development of the dirt lot site. The Town did not publish a Request for Proposal document, which would have solicited interest in the space from developers. “We don’t have any specific plans at this point,” he said. “The Town wrapped up its comprehensive planning process in the late fall, and out of that will ensue land use conversations, but nothing has happened as of yet. I think we certainly have interest in thinking about that in the long term.”
Alison Warner, Interim Director of CSS, said that students should move their cars to College-sanctioned parking spaces, if able. “Students who didn’t receive a space through the lottery, and first-years who aren’t eligible by college policy, have to find their solutions for their vehicles, off campus,” she wrote to the Record in an email. “Sometimes the local residents rent out spaces: I recommend looking for offers on [Williams] Switchboard or using it to ask whether anybody wants to make one available.” In Chief Communications Officer Jim Reische’s Feb. 22 email, he noted that employees and students eligible for on-campus parking may contact CSS to request parking.
For Eve Hammerman ’26, having a car as a first-year was key to valuable experiences at the College, she wrote to the Record. “I was lucky enough to get a car last spring, and it completely opened up my world at Williams,” she wrote. “Having a car allowed me to apply for an off-campus job as an EMT with Northern Berkshire EMS, where I work once a week… Without a car, there would have been no feasible way to get there.”
According to Hammerman, had the dirt lot closed when she was a first-year, she would’ve lost her free parking, and losing access to her car and may have forced her to quit her job. “I’m not sure if I would have been able to keep EMTing,” she wrote. “And I can’t just bring my car home, because I live in New York City.” “I feel very lucky that I was able to have my car my freshman spring, and I’m not sure what I would have done if the dirt lot had closed,” Hammerman said.
