North Adams Planners Review Motel Update, New Businesses
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Redwood Motel project for months has been coming before the Planning Board with tweaks and changes that have greatly expanded on the initial renovation of the old motor court.
But project manager Eric Kerns on Monday said this update was different: "This is about doing something less rather than doing something more."
Now called Tourists, the project redesign that included the ranch house that had also doubled as the office for the motor court was being reduced in scope after the wing shape for roof line was determined to be an "incongruous, overly large gesture."
The construction was to extend beyond the original footprint to create a "swooping mid-century [open] modern space."
"What we are doing instead is ... basically keeping the same footprint with the exception that the back of this deck is going to be about 10 feet shorter than the size of the building was going to be, so we're actually reducing the footprint a little bit," Kerns said.
But the developers do want to create an open space will keeping a nod to the history of the site as well as to the burgeoning contemporary arts community, he said. Since the house cannot be opened up inside because of the way it's constructed, a frame will be built around it.
"We've instead engineered a system where we're going to put a steel space frame outside of the building and basically suspend the ranch house inside of it, like a sculptural work," Kerns said. The bump out for the office and one-car garage will be removed to create a pass-through space that will allow visitors access between the buildings and create a patio.
The amendments were approved (with Planner Brian Miksic abstaining) but Planner Kyle Hanlon wanted to make clear that future improvements to what had been the farmhouse and plans for food service would be brought separately to the board for a public hearing. The board has expressed concerns in the past over the extensive changes because they were not part of the initial public hearing.
Before we see any of that here, we'll want a complete set of plans so we can hold a public hearing," he said.
Kerns said there would be plans for a restaurant and it would be a "completely new application."
"It has always been understand that that has not been part of our original site plan approval," he said.
The board also approved an application by Jose F. Gonclaves to open a Mattress By Appointment operation at property located at 420 Curran Highway. The public hearing had been continued from last month over concerns raised about the condition of the parking lot.
On Monday night, property owner Charles Fox told the board that "we intend to do some further repair and patching of the asphalt." The person doing it owed him an obligation, he said, and the timing was dependent on another asphalt job he was doing.
After some discussion, the board set a condition of Sept. 1 for parking repairs to be completed. The 858 square-foot area in the building is close to the side entrance formerly used by United Cerebral Palsy and Gonclaves expected to have 15-20 mattresses on site. The shop, as it states, will be open by appointment only.
Also approved as an application of Joseph Girard to operate a professional office at 33 Main St. This application was also continued, because Girard was not at last month's meeting. He said he would be using the former gallery space as an office for MetLife.
An application of Micheal Jackson to operate a barber shop at 104 River St. was also approved, as was a request by Robert Moore Jr. to park a food trailer in the parking lot at 303 State St. for special events in the city. Moore also asked for four large flags, but the board limited that to one, in accordance with prior requests.
The board reviewed three compliance issues it asked Building Inspector William Meranti to follow up on: the poor landscaping at the Walmart Supercenter on Curran Highway, vehicles parked "willy nilly" at Bucky's Auto on River Street, and piles of trash bags and old equipment on the north side of Greylock Bowl and Mingo's from ongoing renovations.
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