North Adams Planners Asking for Clarity in Motel Plans
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The continued evolution of the Redwood Motel project is also leading to confusion for the Planning Board.
Developer Benjamin Svenson and project manager Eric Kerns of the Beyond Place LLC were back before the planners last week with the latest changes to the project and more updates.
Last Monday, they were looking for an endorsement of the partial restoration of a bluff on the south side of the river that was also before the Conservation Commission the same night. That change was going to mean another 20 parking spots, which would tie in to future plans for food service in the old farmhouse.
But board members weren't quite sure what was being asked of them.
"I'm getting very uncomfortable of approving things I don't see in writing prior to a meeting," Planner Kyle Hanlon told the developers last week. "I'm really not sure what I'm approving now ...
"I love the project, I love what you guys are doing. I don't want to be the one that slows it down but I am uncomfortable with this procedure."
The development has gone through a few iterations since being presented more than a year ago as a remodel and rebuild of the former motor court. Since then, its added another 18 parcels including an adjacent piece with an 1813 farmhouse and the Blackinton Mill and former wastewater plant property across the Hoosic River. The additional space is allowing more rooms — about 48 total — and a footbridge connection to the north side for use of the undeveloped land beyond.
The board's been getting updates on changes and has approved some things but say it's getting harder to track the revisions even as it has been supportive of the project.
"This piecemeal approach can get to be very confusing for the board," said Chairman Michael Leary. "We don't know what we've approved, what we haven't approved by looking back at the records."
Was it the bluff, which they really didn't have purview over, or the parking lot, for which they didn't have plans?
"For us, it's the parking, the nuts and bolts, is there going to be a restaurant," said Building Inspector William Meranti. "That's what we want to nail down and have good solid plan in the end, so we can say this is what they built."
Leary said the changes have become more problematic since the original plan went through a public hearning.
"We approved the overall project early on and gave the opportunity for neighbors, for people who were going to be abuttors, to be notified that this is what's happening so they had the opportunity to express their questions their concerns," Leary said. "If there are people who don't like what's happening to the property next to them, they don't have an opportunity to come back to us. ...
"At certain points, we need to inform the abuttors that these changes are being made so out of fairness, they don't wake up someday and say I don't remember that as part of the approval."
Svenson asked that the presentation be considered just an update and promised to come back with more detailed plans in the coming months.
"We will present to you very clearly this is where we started, this is where we are going, this what we changed," he said, acknowledging that the development has become a "hybrid" as the parameters changed.
Kerns explained that the regrading around the bluff, which was approved with conditions by the Conservation Commission, came about after it was discovered much of the contour along the river was fill.
They had initially believed it was from the former fish fry that was on the property but turned out it was from the development of the shopping plaza across the street, and included some automobiles.
Restoring a large part of the bluff will do several things: It will allow more of the rooms to look out on the river from an elevated height, creating a feeling of being in the trees; it will open up the existing blocked wetlands for use as natural stormwater drainage; and it the reconfiguration on the east side will allow another 20 parking spots.
"Rather than doing a less than natural stormwater system and knowing we have this existing isolated wetlands right here that is stagnant because it doesn't have any water moving through — it it just kind of puddles there. It's nasty, boggy, stinky, it's a mosquito incubator really."
Reed Hilderbrand is working on the landscaping in that area and a design firm Lake Flato based in San Antonio is looking at the cluster that will include the pavilion, farmhouse, and connection to the foot bridge.
The hope is to use the farmhouse built by Truman Paul in 1813 as a dining area.
"We just want to create a great culinary experience, we're in conversation with a fantastic chef of creating some kind of more than a breakfast to our guests but maybe get some sort of lunch and dinner service, too," Svenson said. "We think that that courtyard is going to be a really special place to pass a beautiful afternoon and it's going to be a great portal to your experience of going the bridge ... kind of like a gateway experience."
He did not expect to have those plans ready until next year. The project is still on goal for the majority of it to open in time for Solid Sound in June. Svenson also expected to unveil a new name and logo for the motel in the coming months.
In other business, the board:
• Approved new signage for Berkshire Medical Center's North Adams Campus (with both Leary and Planner Paul Hopkins abstaining because of their related employment).
• Approved an exterior barber pole for Christopher Barton's business, the Klipper Kingz, at 14 Eagle St.
• Approved the transfer of property at 18 Holden St. from Pam Rosasco to Alexis Rosasco, and for Alexis Rosasco to operate an art and clothing design shop as well as a body art studio.
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