A plan to bring pickleball to Springside Park is still a go — and will likely break ground this summer — but when the final lines are painted at the new complex, there will be fewer courts and amenities than originally planned.

A project to fix up the Springside House has been decades in the making. The award of a national grant seemed like a bright next chapter for the project. But a new shadow has been cast on the project's future as the city's finance committee remains split how the city should match the grant funds. 

City leaders say that for generations Pittsfield's house on the hill — Springside House — was the center of community life. With exterior renovations done, Pittsfield's leaders are hoping to start in on interior work and welcome the public back to the historic home.

City leaders say the 13 trees in Park Square are part of the “iconic” welcome to Pittsfield. A plan calls for the replacement of several of those trees and the planting of a permanent Christmas tree.

Church members voted to support an agreement with the Berkshire Housing Development Corporation that will lease some church space for up to 60 years to create new permanent supportive housing and a community resource center in the building.

All but one councilor on the Pittsfield City Council rallied around a proposal to purchase 52 acres off of Barker Road to create a new greenway. Councilors called the purchase and creation of new conservation land the end to a 20-year development "nightmare" for residents.

For nearly two decades, three parcels of hardwood forest along the southwestern branch of the Housatonic River have been on the city’s wishlist to acquire. With emphatic support from Pittsfield's Community Preservation Committee, funding for the land may finally be lined up.

This summer, Mayor Linda Tyer’s presented the City Council with a capital improvement plan that included allocating $500,000 of the city’s $40.6 million in ARPA money to the construction of eight pickleball courts. This week the city's Parks Commission revealed its preferred home for that project.

For the last 15 years, Pittsfield city leaders have had their eyes on stretch of more than 50 acres along Baker Road that they hope to build into trails and a riverwalk for residents. That property is now up for sale.