WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — After a five-month delay caused by a sprinkler system failure, the Highland Woods senior housing project is now fully operational.

 

Elton Ogden of Berkshire Housing Development Corporation on Monday gave the Board of Selectmen an update on the 40-unit apartment at the end of Southworth Street, adjacent to Proprietor's Field.

 

In February, just before residents were to begin moving into the complex, burst pipes caused water damage to the east wing of the three-story complex. Shortly after, people were allowed to move into the west half of the building, but the east wing only was opened in late July, Ogden said.

 

"The damage required us to strip everything back to the framing, dry it out and start over again," he said. "Fortunately, the second time you build it, it went very quickly, very smoothly."

 

Ogden said all but four units in the apartment building are committed, and he encouraged anyone interested in living there to inquire and/or put their name on a waiting list. Some units are available at a reduced monthly rate to income-qualified residents.

 

Highland Woods qualifies as affordable housing because of public financing, which includes $2.8 million in contributions from the town of Williamstown, mostly money realized from the federal Hazard Mitigation Grant for the former Spruces Mobile Home Park property.

 

On Monday, Town Manager Jason Hoch gave Ogden a check for $2.1 million. The town will pass through another $400,000 soon, when it receives its check from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, Hoch said. Previously, the Highland Woods project received $100,000 each from the town's Community Preservation Act fund and Affordable Housing Trust.

 

Even as it puts the finishing touches at Highland Woods — like a solar photovoltaic array on the roof — Berkshire Housing is working with its partner, Boston's Women's Institute for Housing and Economic Development, to move forward a housing project at the former Photech property on Cole Avenue.

 

On Monday, Ogden told the Board of Selectmen that the developers hope to have their plan in place in time for the next round of state low-income housing tax credit funding, which comes in February 2017.

 

"We're planning to begin the permitting process, to include environmental permitting and zoning permitting, shortly — in September or early October," he said. "It will get really busy.

 

"I think it will be exciting and, hopefully, the process will proceed as quickly and smoothly as it did with Highland Woods."

 

In other business on Monday, the board approved a survey that will be sent to town employees and community members to aid the board in its evaluation of Hoch as he comes to the end of his first year as town manager.

 

The electronic survey asks town employees and board members to grade Hoch on a scale of 1-to-5 in areas including "general management and leadership," "personnel management," "financial management," "planning," "inter-organizational cooperation" and "community outreach." Community members outside town government will fill out a shorter survey.

 

Prompts in the survey include items like "Maintains good working relationships with other areas of government to maximize coordination and economy of service delivery" and "Interprets policies to the public and gains support for their implementation."

 

At Monday's meeting, Hoch updated the board on two ongoing town projects, the resurfacing of Hancock Road, where final paving was set to begin on Wednesday, and the solar photovoltaic installation on the capped town landfill.

 

Site work on the latter is set to begin soon. The solar energy project has to be online by January in order to qualify for the metering credits, Hoch said.