Winstanley plan could bode well for Lenox

By Claire CoxPrint Story | Email Story
LENOX — Town officials are reviewing a “mini master plan” from a local businessman for the construction of a downtown office-retail complex designed to be a potential source of year-round activity that would reduce the town’s reliance on seasonal tourism. The Windrose Center on 3.2 acres at the corner of Main and Franklin streets would provide much-needed parking spaces in the heart of town, as well as office spaces designed for professional tenants, such as physicians, lawyers and brokers, according to Nathan (Nate) Winstanley III. Winstanley, president and creative director of Winstanley Associates, the advertising agency and media development company on Main Street, presented his plan at a joint meeting of the Selectmen, the Zoning and Planning boards and the Conservation and Historic commissions on Oct. 13. No action was taken at the meeting, which will be followed during the next few months with submission of more details. Winstanley said this week that the complex would probably more than $5 million to build as presented to the town. The proposed structures would total more than 42,660 square feet. He said that three years ago, after deciding he needed more office space to stay in business here, he and his architect brother, Michael Winstanley, started working on the plans. “I was also aware that I had a developable piece of property and that I needed to come up with a comprehensive master plan for it,” he said. Now that he has gone public with his proposal, Winstanley said he still has many details to work out, including structural design and preparations for the long process of reviews by all of the boards and commissions. An amendment to the town zoning law might be required, which would involve public hearings and a vote by Lenox residents at the annual town meeting next May. The law was enacted in 1941 and has had only a few minor changes since. The complex is to be named after Winstanley’s parents, Nathan Winstanley Jr. and the late Rose Montegani Winstanley. Winstanley, a 25-year resident of Lenox, has proposed five 2-story buildings and a 2-story addition to his Meadow Place office building, all designed to maintain the historic character of the village. Four of the new buildings are projected for an area within the complex that would be reached on a driveway listed on the plan as Windrose Lane, with an entrance at Franklin and Church streets. The fifth structure is planned for the corner of Main and Franklin. The plan allows for 160 parking spaces and a walkway from St. Ann’s Avenue to Franklin Street. It retains the sculpture garden, but on a smaller scale and with benches for visitors. Following the Oct. 13 meeting, Town Manager Gregory Federspiel said most of Winstanley's land is zoned residential. The plot at the corner of Main and Franklin is zoned commercial, he said, which means that only the permission of the building inspector would be needed to build there. Part of the present Winstanley building is in the Historic District. The four projected structures in the project’s interior space would be outside the district. Winstanley said the decision to provide for office spaces was prompted by “fairly frequent” inquiries on the availability of such space in Lenox. “This is all going to be what they call ‘Class A’ office space. It’s going to have high-end telecommunications, fiber optics, high-speed data facilities — all of those kinds of things,” he said. “We probably would not build it all at once. We’d probably start by building the addition to our office and the building on the corner. The others would be built as needed.” He added, “The real objective here is to create permanent activity in the town instead of relying on tourism, to get some businesses in town and to provide nice office spaces. It’s really a year-around perception. He said his clients “love to come to our office.” “When they are here, they park, we meet and we walk and have lunch. It’s a wonderful thing. I have one of the best offices of anybody I know because I have proximity to the village. It makes sense that more people who are professionals would like to have office space here in the village, where it is just a matter of walking to town for lunch or to shop.” Federspiel’s reaction to the Winstanley proposal was generally favorable. “I think our village needs that,” he said. “I also think we need to look at the residential uses in the village core.” If a decision were made to add apartments to Winstanley’s projected two-story buildings, Federspeil said, a third floor would have to be provided. That would entail amending the zoning law, which now limits structures to two stories. He noted that Town Hall, the library and Curtis Hotel, built before the law was enacted, are the only three-story buildings in town. Federspiel said the inclusion of parking spaces and the new office facilities would be a big help in generating commercial activity throughout the year. “I think he’s going to keep thinking about his plans,” he said. “Meantime the Planning Board will consider changes to the village zoning, which could eventually help his plan. He said there is no doubt business can be better downtown. “I think we need to take a hard look at our village and see how we can help it remain viable. Right now, it does very well in the summer, but that’s about it.” Winstanley, a veteran of Peace Corps service on the Pacific island of Tonga, spent several years as a corporate speechwriter and in public relations, after which he was communications manager for GE plastics in Pittsfield and Detroit. He founded Winstanley Associates in 1986. He and his wife, Kathryn, and their three children live on what was the first Lenox dairy farm, on East Street.
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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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