WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Zoning Board of Appeals last week gave its blessing to the new Williams Inn project.

 

The board issued five special permits on Aug. 21 needed for construction of the inn at the bottom of Spring Street and the expansion of the college-owned municipal parking lot nearby.

 

The college's representatives explained again that the phasing plan for the parking lot reconstruction will allow for its expansion and the placement of new stormwater detention underneath while maintaining as much parking as possible during construction.

 

The college's director of real estate and legal affairs also addressed board members' concerns about contractor parking during the construction of the parking lot and 64-room, 60,000-square foot inn.

 

"The fortunate thing about the timing for the construction of this project is that the south phase of the science center is winding down now," Jamie Art said in a hearing telecast on the town's community access television station, WilliNet. "There are fewer and fewer contractors on site working on that one.

 

"Next summer, knock on wood, the demolition of Bronfman begins, and as that ramps up, we'll have some shift in where contractors park. So the idea here is that we should be able, in large part, at the beginning of the construction for this project, fit the parking for contractors on site here. The contractor demand for parking on the south building [of the science center] is going down."

 

As the contractors for the parking lot and inn begin occupying the spaces currently used by workers on the south end of the science center project, the workers on the Bronfman project, to the north, will park near that building or farther to the north.

 

"It's realistic in the academic year that contractors for the north building could park in the Center for Theater and Dance parking deck, which has lots of space available [when the Williamstown Theatre Festival is not in session]," Art said. "In the summer months … we have some money carried in the various construction budgets so that if we have to find off-site parking for contractors — either for the north building of Bronfman or the south or the inn — we'll be able to find some off-site spaces and shuttle contractors in.

 

"It might mean working with the town for use of the former Town Garage site on Water Street. It might mean working with the town on the Photech site [330 Cole Ave]. If it's after the [new] inn is fully constructed, it might be looking at the parking lot behind the old Williams Inn."

 

In 2015, contractor parking related to the renovation of the Log, a college owned tavern on Spring Street, created concern among the merchants on the street who worried about customers not having available parking.

 

Art said a sticker system implemented since then for contractors on college projects alleviated that problem. This summer, with the south end of the science project and the new Williams Bookstore both under construction, there appeared to be no issues.

 

"I have not heard of problems with contractor parking associated with the south building," ZBA Chairman Andrew Hoar said.

 

Community Development Director Andrew Groff agreed.

 

"So far, our office has not heard any complaints," Groff told the board. "It's gone much, much smoother compared to the project at the Log."

 

As previously explained to the board, the municipal lot itself will be kept in operation during construction. The expansion of the lot and the phasing schedule developed by the college will allow at least 90 spaces to be available at any one time.

 

The current lot has 120 spaces — a number that will rise to more than 200 (with 71 designated to the new Williams Inn) once the project is completed. Art said that in the winter and spring, the number of spaces in the lot could fall as low as 90.

 

"Then, we'll have excess parking for merchants and others in the half of the field house lot that is open to the public," he said. "Until April 15, we'll have parking available in the track and golf course lot, and hopefully we can convince [Spring Street business] employees to park there."

 

The parking lot project is expected to get under way in October. The entire inn project faces one more regulatory hurdle; it will be back before the town's Conservation Commission on Thursday for the continuation of a hearing that began on Aug. 10.

 

In other business on Monday, the ZBA approved two special permits: the extension of a deck on a two-family residence on Elm Street and the renovation of a detached garage into a rental apartment for a farm at the end of Luce Road. Neither application drew objections that were presented to the board.