The Williamstown Motel hopes to add a second story to the wing on the right.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Two Main Street businesses are planning major expansions that last Thursday were approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

 

The Williamstown Motel and Chopsticks restaurant both were before the ZBA with plans to build additions on their properties.

 

At a marathon meeting that was dominated by discussions of a proposed new development on North Street, the board OK'd the alterations to the Main Street businesses after making a modification to one of the two plans.

 

Williamstown Motel owner Ashwan Malhorta wanted the town's permission to build a second-story addition that would have allowed him to add six more rooms on the main structure of the currently one-story motel.

 

David Westall of Westall Architects represented Malhorta to the ZBA. The approval was sought because the current motel structure is nonconforming to town codes due to a rear deck at the front of the building that is too close to the property line.

 

Building an addition the size Malhorta wanted would have required a zoning variance from the town, but ZBA Chairman Andrew Hoar suggested an alternative.

 

"If you were to stop the second-floor addition short of this setback, we wouldn't be here for a variance," Hoar said.

 

Instead, the board recommended that the motel's proprietor consider a special permit for a more modest addition.

 

"Generally speaking, any time this board grants a variance, someone complains," ZBA member David Levine said. "It gets overturned, whatever we granted. It only takes one person to complain because the courts look at us as a bunch of hapless amateurs.

 

"I haven't seen any special permits overturned. But the courts take great umbrage at a bunch of amateurs saying it's OK to break town law, even if the town law is cumbersome and causes all sorts of problems. They don't like that."

 

In fact, Malhorta's expansion plan met resistance from neighbors at last Thursday's meeting.

 

Leigh-Anne Nicastro of Adams Road, which runs behind the motel, told the board that the addition would ruin a view already marred by what she described as poorly maintained property.

 

"None of the neighbors want this," Nicastro said. "We are all not happy about this."

 

Hoar explained that the motel is in a planned business zone, even though it abuts the residential zone on Adams Road.

 

After a brief consultation between Malhorta and Westall, they amended the request to seek a special permit for a smaller addition that would not require a variance. Malhorta said the smaller addition could accommodate four or five new rooms, though five rooms would be smaller than the guest rooms he envisioned.

 

As for concerns about the view, Malhorta defended his maintenance of the property, admitting that some debris was temporarily stored behind the building during a renovation but asserting that it was removed as quickly as possible.

 

As a condition of the special permit, Malhorta was required to plant evergreens for screening the entire Adams Road frontage of the property, and Malhorta will coordinate the plantings with adjacent business owner Paul Harsch, who attended Thursday's meeting as a neighbor to the parcel in question.

 

Noting the reduced size of the addition that Nicastro would have liked to see blocked entirely, Levine remarked after the 5-0 vote, "It's the mark of a true democracy that everyone leaves unhappy."

 

There was no apparent dissatisfaction over the ZBA's approval of a plan to expand Chopsticks.

 

Restaurant owner Jeff Fang — also represented by Westall — asked the town to allow a two-story rear addition, a one-story addition at the main entry and a covered deck on the west side of his non-conforming building.

 

The addition at the entry is intended to provide a new waiting area at the popular restaurant. The deck will replace an existing deck that is in disrepair but serves as egress from the business.

 

The two-story addition will allow for a new kitchen, storage and receiving dock for Chopsticks, Westall explained.

 

Although the nonconformity to the building is minor (part of it is too close to the neighboring residential district), the proposed structural changes brought the matter to the ZBA.

 

"We're not increasing the impervious coverage," Westall said. "The two-story addition will cover more [previous ground], but we're making that up by taking two sections of the existing asphalt and turning that into planting space. ... Actually, it's a net gain of impervious coverage."

 

Likewise, the expanded business will maintain the same seating capacity and foresees no additional employees, Westall said.

 

One neighbor did attend the meeting to express a concern that the ventilation system of the yet to be designed kitchen might cause an issue for nearby residences. The ZBA conditioned its approval of the special permit on that ventilation facing away from the neighborhood, which Westall said should not present a problem.

 

In other business last Thursday, the ZBA approved a request from Beth Hiam Acheson to operate an acupuncture, shiatsu, craniosacral therapy, reiki, reflexology and Chinese herbal medicine business out of her home at 107 White Oaks Road.

 

Acheson told the ZBA she expected it to be a low-key operation, and her intent is to work from home while being able to home school her children.

 

The board permitted the operation — which received no public comment — on the conditions that it operate Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a limit of no more than 12 clients per week.