Pittsfield Board Approves Credit For Controversial Development

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After heated debate and conflicting legal opinions, the Community Development Board voted Tuesday to issue a letter of credit on the remaining bond for a controversial development project that includes three unaccepted streets off Williams Street and Leona Drive.

Yola Esther Development says it has completed the subdivision, which includes Kara and Giovina Streets and Karen Drive, to the terms stipulated in the bond agreement.

But opponents — including City Engineer Matthew Billetter, Ward 4 City Councilor Chris Connell, and Commission on Disabilities Chairwoman June Hailer — said the streets should not be considered complete until several issues, including a lack of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, are resolved.

Those changes, they say, could cost the city more than $200,000 if it has to take on those expense for them to become accepted public streets.

"I would implore you not to recommend this development for acceptance or to produce a letter of credit," Billetter told the board. "If the city were to accept this development I think it sends a terrible message that we're not concerned with the needs of the disabled community, and that we're willing to spend taxpayer money."

Billetter further affirmed statements by Hailer that as far back as meetings with the developer's engineer and "made it very clear that the sidewalks needed to be ADA compliant."

The Yola Esther Development project has been ongoing in phases since the property was first purchased in 2003. In July 2012, the city placed the performance bond in place to insure the completion of the streets, which at that time were promised to be completed by the end of that year. In May 2014, the Community Development Board expressed frustration that the project still had not been completed.

Board member David Hathaway was adamant that only conditions explicitly in the performance guarantee for the letter of credit could be considered, and that the Department of Public Works had failed to bring forth its concerns within a 45-day period from the developer's request for hearing on the issue.

"Unfortunately, the performance guarantee does not relate to the ADA issue, that's between the developers and the city of Pittsfield," he said. "If it's not included in the performance guarantee then it is outside the scope of this board."

Hathaway blasted staff for not bringing forward information about these concerns sooner.

"This has to stop!" Hathaway insisted. "We have to tighten things up, and get back to the way we used to do things."

Connell, within whose ward the development falls, urged the board not to approve the credit and to schedule a site visit to look at the concerns being raised for themselves.

"Look at Karen Drive — ADA compliant or not, that's not complete," said Connell.

City Planner Cornelius Hoss added that the 45-day period is not an absolute, to which City Solicitor Kathleen Degnan concurred.

"Determining whether it's complete is certainly within your jurisdiction," Degnan told the board, seconding Connell's suggestion of a site visit.

Attorney Thomas Hamel, representing Yola Esther principal developer Joseph Kroboth, strongly disagreed, saying the 45-day timeline is binding, and that the board was obligated to issue the credit based on the terms in the performance guarantee.

"This isn't a zoning issue, this isn't a handicapped accessibility issue. It's a subdivision issue," said Hamel. "There is no leeway."

He rejected the estimates for remaining street and sidewalk work remaining to be done as part of the Yola Esther project.

Finally, Hamel said, if the board did not grant the letter of credit, they would appeal to the city clerk to issue it without the board's  approval as a legal recourse.

"It doesn't matter if the city said [in the performance guarantee] 'You have to meet the ADA regulations,'" countered Billetter. "That's federal law."

"The projects are not complete, compliant or not," said Hailer. "It's going to cost the city a lot of money, and the taxpayers a lot of money."

The board voted 7-1 to issue the letter of credit for what remains of the bond, with Chairwoman Sheila Irvin voting opposed.

PEDA Site 9 Preparation, Member Retirement