The reopening of the Clark Art Institute was an internationally noted event.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Housing developments and economic development dominated the headlines — and the landscape — of the Village Beautiful in 2014.

The year that ends today saw the end of three major construction projects, the beginning of two more and the prospect of another, which is percolating in a state-mandated pre-development phase.

No single issue has consumed the town more than affordable housing the last few years, and 2014 was no different.

Housing advocates can point to triumphs and tribulations as the town still grapples with the aftermath of 2011's Tropical Storm Irene and it's impact on hundreds of seniors living on fixed incomes.

The good news: the homegrown non-profit that arose in the days after Irene just this month broke ground on a 40-unit senior housing complex adjacent to the current senior apartments at Proprietors Field.

Higher Ground's Highland Woods is planned to be completed by early 2016. The project is made possible by the land grant of Williams College, the expedited funding of the commonwealth and a sizable town contribution funded by the Federal Emergency Management Grant generated by the closure of the Spruces Mobile Home Park.

Speaking of the Spruces, the protracted process of shuttering the park accelerated this year with the relocation of many of the residents who returned after the 2011 flooding. The town has been involved with helping find safe alternatives and distributing the FEMA Grant money designated for residents.

Town Hall also was an active partner in the other housing project that got under way this fall. The long-awaited renovation of the Cable Mills complex on Water Street is finally coming to fruition after the town signed off on all the building permits and the conservation restrictions that will give developers access to the balance of a $1.5 million town contribution approved by Annual Town Meeting in 2007.

Thirteen of the 60 new housing units at Cable Mills will be income sensitive, adding significantly to the town's stock of subsidized housing. Also adding to that inventory: houses purchased under a mortgage assistance program launched this year by the town's Affordable Housing Trust. Late this fall, the Trustees had the pleasure of approving the first application under the program.

But not all the affordable housing stories were so pleasant.

In April, three members of the Affordable Housing Committee resigned in protest after a vote of the Board of Selectmen.

The ground breaking of Highland Woods was a major step in addressing the town's affordable housing deficit.

The committee worked for years to see two town-owned brownfield sites developed into affordable housing: the former Photech property on Cole Avenue and the former Town Garage site on Water Street.

On April 15, the committee brought two developers' proposals to the BOS. One proposed developing both sites; one proposed developing just Photech.

Despite expert opinion that said the smaller Water Street parcel was only economically viable if developed in conjunction with the Cole Avenue site, the Selectmen - in a 3-2 vote - rejected the AHC's recommendation and opted to award the contract to the developer who just wants to do the Photech property.

That evening and the next day, three long-serving members of the committee — including its chairman — tendered their resignations.

At the same time, the Board of Selectmen was undergoing transition for a very different reason. Two members of the five-person board chose not to stand for re-election in May 2014, and the two open seats attracted four candidates, offering Williamstown voters a relatively rare contested election.

After an enthusiastic and genial campaign, the two winners who emerged were men who made economic development the cornerstone of their respective campaigns.

Hugh Daley and Andy Hogeland hit the ground running this summer, creating their own draft economic development plan and spearheading the board's creation of a new town Economic Development Committee, which will convene for the first time in January 2015.

Jan. 1 sees the start of a new era in Williamstown education as longtime Williamstown Elementary School Superintendent Rose Ellis begins her retirement and an interim superintendent takes over the role she filled in recent years as superintendent of Williamstown Elementary, Mount Greylock Regional School and Lanesborough Elementary School.

It is a time of challenge and opportunity for the "Tri-District," as the partnership of the independent districts is known.

The challenge: continued calls from some elected officials in Lanesborough to break off the town’s elementary school from Superintendency Union 71, the mechanism by which Lanesborough shares a superintendent with Williamstown (SU71, in turn, shares administrative services with Mount Greylock).

Opinions on the future of SU71 has split the Lanesborough School Committee and created tension with its fellow Tri-District committees.

The opportunities: A planned effort by the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee to solidify the two-town partnership by inviting both sending towns to formally enter an expanded K-through-12 district and the junior-senior high school's participation in the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s program.

Mount Greylock was invited into the MSBA process in fall 2013. In spring 2014, the annual town meetings in Williamstown and Lanesborough both voted overwhelmingly to fund the feasibility study required by the state. That feasibility study, already under way, will determine whether a new building or a major renovation is the best solution to Mount Greylock’s infrastructure woes.

New buildings in education were all the rage in 2014 in Williamstown, where Williams College wrapped up two long-term construction projects: the new Weston Field athletic complex and the Stetson-Sawyer Library project.

In any other year, the new library at the town's biggest employer may have been the most important new building of the year. But 2014 will be remembered more as the year the Clark Art Institute finished major construction on its renovated and expanded campus.

The eyes of the art world were on Williamstown in July 2014 as the Clark unveiled its new visitor and exhibition center and a dramatically redesigned original museum building. The grand reopening ended a prolonged closure of that main building and marked the return of cherished items from the Clark's permanent collection, much of which went on a world tour during construction.

The new exhibition space also allowed the Clark to continue expanding its mission into the worlds of 20th and 21st century art.

Lovers of the performing arts will remember 2014 as the year the Williamstown Theatre Festival featured world-renowned soprano Renee Fleming in her theatrical debut, a part in the non-musical "Living on Love." This month, it was reported that Fleming will reprise her role in the play on Broadway this spring — joining another 2014 WTF offering, the revival of Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love," which is scheduled to open on Broadway in fall 2015.

• Most Read

• Most Comments

• All News

• Events at Williams

• Photos