Dollar General Eyes Lanesborough; Aerial Park Gets OK
 Kevin Hixson presented the plans for the Dollar General to the Planning Board on Monday night. |
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Yet another Dollar General is proposed for the county.
Primax Properties, which owns the national company, is looking to demolish the former Party Barn on South Main Street and build a 9,100 square-foot Dollar General.
The company is hoping to purchase a portion of the property, which is owned by Liam Shirley, to build the store.
In order to do so, the Planning Board needed to give its approval on the project because Shirley had a special permit to build storage units on the property. The storage sheds will remain and the company will buy the land in front of the units.
The board continued the Monday hearing until Aug. 19. Planners said they want the company to return with an updated traffic study performed during peak hours, more details on how the property will be kept clean and the lighting schedule.
According to Kevin Hixson, who represented Primax, the store would be open from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. and would create two full-time jobs and eight to 10 part-time jobs. He said there would be no issue with water runoff or environmental hazards nor is there any concern with wetlands.
However, residents voiced concern with traffic issues and questioned if there is a need for the store. Barbara Hassan said traffic is already difficult to maneuver on a Saturday morning.
"I don't think there is a need," Hassan said. "But my biggest concern is the traffic."
Hixson estimated that there would be 225 trips per day and said a study was done on a Saturday afternoon that showed traffic would not be affected.
Residents were also concerned that it would push nearby businesses out. The town already has a small supermarket and several convenience stores — the owners of which were at Monday's hearing arguing against the permit. Additional questions were raised about the character of the town and the lighting that would be on site.
Multiple Dollar Generals dollar stores have been popping up around the county in the last year or so including in the towns of Williamstown, North Adams and Adams.
In other business, the Planning Board approved a special permit for the proposed aerial adventure park. Feronia Forests is creating the challenge course on Brodie Mountain Road near the Hancock border. The board approved the special permit but added a condition that the park could only be open after dusk once a week.
According to attorney Jay Sabin, the park itself will be constructed in the trees and will include a zipline, suspended bridge and other obstacles of various difficulty. The park will be open year-round — though the company does not expect much business in the winter — from 9 a.m. until dusk and any time after dusk will be by reservation as a special event.
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Jay Sabin fielded questions from the public about the aerial adventure park. |
"The first component is the park elements themselves and the second piece is the things we plan to build to support it," Sabin said.
There will be multiple buildings; the main building will be a 2,000 square-foot gift shop. The company is also planning on a building with water served by a well. In a separate plan, the company is also considering a sugar shack for maple syrup generation.
The park itself would be one-third of a mile away from the main 70-space parking lot and a building that will serve as both the location patrons pick up their harnesses and storage for all-terrain vehicles used by employees.
"Our operations are going to have significant less impacts as a ski area would," Sabin said. "We are able to build this site and operate this site in a very compact way. It is not going to be another Jiminy Peak type operation that you will see when you drive by."
But that hasn't alleviated the concerns of nearby residents.
"The noise is what we are concerned about," said Barbara Stein, who's property is the closest to the proposed park. "Our concerns, I feel, really haven't been addressed. We're not happy. We're really not happy that all of this is going directly across the street from us."
Randy Stein, her husband, said that they'll be able to hear talking from their porch and when they bought their property in November, they didn't know that the park was being considered. He asked the company to at least consider moving the zipline so the family won't hear screaming all day.
In response, Sabin said the company has decided to reduce the hours at night from 11 p.m. to dusk but that he couldn't guarantee that the Steins won't be able to hear anything. He added that the project is planned in a business zoned area so it could be develop into far more intrusive uses — such as a car dealership — by right instead of a special permit.
Fire Chief Charlie Durfee said there are no public safety concerns with it and company officials said their employees will be trained in first aid while safety equipment will be on sight.
"Traffic was a big concern for us at the start of this project," engineer Brent White said.
Additionally, White said he has performed a traffic study, which shows there is nearly 100 feet of visibility for the turn off. White said they based the study on 600 trips per day, a number noone in the company expects to reach.
Sabin said there will be a total of 225 harnesses so the company would need to sell out three times a day in order to generate that much traffic.
Tags: adventure park, dollar store, Planning Board, special permit,
