Land trust looks to preserve Lenox greenery

By Kate Abbott12:00AM / Wednesday, February 18, 2004Print Story | Email Story

Undermountain Farm is a family-owned open land that the new Lenox Land Trust could preserve. (Photo By Kevin Sprague)

LENOX â€” Many of the familiar green sweeps of Lenox are less protected than people realize, Kevin Sprague, president of the fledgling Lenox Land Trust, said last week. The land trust is up and running and trying to reach out to people to teach them how to preserve the land, Sprague said. Its first public meeting will be held Sunday, Feb. 29, at the Lenox Community Center from 3 to 5 p.m. for anyone curious about the trust or interested in becoming a member. â€œWeâ€™re in business,â€ Sprague said. â€œWeâ€™ve formed a corporation, and weâ€™re ready to start exploring â€˜now what?â€™ We see ourselves working to preserve as much of the Lenox landscape as possible â€” open space, view sheds, watershed lands, hilltops â€” whatever leads people to think Lenox is a beautiful place.â€ The land trust is not looking to take away anyoneâ€™s land but to educate people who are interested in preserving land they own, he said. The new trust began last summer. Sprague and his brother Karl set it in motion, with the help of Thomas Stokes, president of the Stockbridge Land Trust. Karl Sprague is also involved with the Stockbridge Land Trust, and the Sprague family owns Undermountain Farm in Lenox. The land trust held a few meetings at the Lenox Club in July and August and formed its first board of directors: Kate McNulty-Vaughan, Gene Chague, Lois Lenehan, Sally Bell, George Darey, Warren Archey, Dick Celli, Patty Spector and Charlie Liston. The board has met monthly since September. Kevin Sprague noted the depth of experience on the board. Its members have worked with the state Departments of Environmental Management and Environmental Protection, Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Lenox Planning Board, among others. Since last summer, the board has spent most of its time forming the nonprofit corporation, establishing its bylaws and mission, building a Web site (www.lenoxlandtrust.org) and studying assessorsâ€™ maps, open-space maps the town has created and maps from the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, Sprague said. It has already started identifying areas and parcels of land to focus on protecting, he said. â€œThere are quite a few issues, and we have not determined an order of priorities yet,â€ he said. â€œWe are assessing the situation before setting explicit goals.â€ However, he noted that hundreds, if not thousands of open acres in Lenox could be developed, he said. Although the vast majority of townspeople might think many of the places are publicly owned or protected land, they are not, he said. The hilltops along Yokun Ridge, for example, could be developed, although with some difficulty. Sprague said the land trust plans to look seriously at the Scenic Mountains Act that other towns in the Berkshires have adopted. The act preserves land above a certain height and steepness and is designed to keep ridgelines free of houses. Land could also be developed along the boundaries of Kennedy Park, according to Sprague, who has lived in Lenox his whole life. Over the last 25 years, he said, he has watched the park borders slowly get whittled down as landowners legitimately developed private land many people had thought belonged to the park. The trust would also look closely at the Lenox â€œgateway areas,â€ especially the southern approach by High Lawn Farm and the Stockbridge border, he said. The land trust does not want to suggest that the town could get built up overnight but residents should focus on areas the community values most highly and be aware of what could change, Sprague said. â€œWeâ€™re not saying people who have owned open land for hundreds of years are suddenly raging to build on it,â€ he said. â€œThere is a bigger issue here than taking land and putting it into conservation restrictions. We have to live with development.â€ Many people think a land trust just acquires land, he said. A land trust can own land or hold conservation restrictions to preserve it, but the directors of the Lenox land trust see themselves chiefly as providers of information, he said: The trust may not buy land at all, he said. The board hopes to work with other local organizations, including the natural resources council and Massachusetts Audubon Society, which are better equipped to maintain property, he said. The land trust also will let landowners know what options they have for preserving land. Sally Bell has already drafted a laymanâ€™s guide to conservation options on the Web site. In it, she explains conservation restrictions, which give tax credits for land preserved as open space. A landowner who puts land under a conservation restriction still owns it. The restriction may cover all or part of a parcel of land, allowing some uses such as agriculture or timbering, and it may even increase the value of land bordering the conserved land, Sprague said. â€œPeople worry that conservation restrictions affect the townâ€™s tax base, lower revenues and hurt town services. Thereâ€™s an argument that the town saves money by conserving land,â€ he said. â€œIt is less expensive to have open space than to provide utilities, infrastructure and services for buildings and people on developed land.â€ Some town organizations are already concerned about preserving open space and the character of Lenox, Sprague said, including the Conservation Commission, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and the Selectmen. But the land trust is a private organization and can explore options the town does not have, Sprague said, such as raising funds as a nonprofit or applying for state grants to buy land. Anyone who becomes a member will directly support the land trustâ€™s ability to pursue its goals, he said. The $25 annual membership fee will go straight into operating funds to allow the trust to work with landowners, underwrite legal fees or pay for educational materials, he said. The trust is looking to create a land-acquisition or leverage fund, too, so it can buy land or contribute to the cost of buying it at need. It has a few entities already interested in underwriting when final papers for nonprofit status are filed, Sprague said. Sheffield, Stockbridge, Egremont, Alford, Richmond and Williamstown already have land trusts preserving farmland and open space within their towns. Sheffieldâ€™s land trust is protecting 1,821 acres, according to the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition. Some land trusts have celebrated their centennials, and the Northeast has a good record, according to the Land Trust Alliance: New England had the nationâ€™s first land trust, and the Northeast still has more land trusts than any other area of the country. Lenox has a long history of stewardship for its green spaces. Sprague said the land trust will provide more options for that stewardship.

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Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:30AM / Tuesday, June 09, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Construction is underway to transform the former Harry's Supermarket into a restaurant.

Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building.

"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu.

A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building.

White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.

He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns.

Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot.

A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use.