Lanesborough Officials Say 'Barriers' to Police Station at Mall
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board indicated there was no chance at this point of scuttling plans for the proposed police station and starting over at the former mall.
JMJ RE Holdings LLC and JMJ Holdings Corp., which will soon be taking the title of the mall, sent a letter to the board offering space for police and emergency medical services in its proposed cannabis campus.
"We did consult with the [Police Station Steering Committee] and went through some previous minutes just to see what had been brought forward," Town Administrator Gina Dario said at Monday's meeting.
"Certainly, I'll take the experts' advice in terms of the viability of the location itself, but we are aware as a town administration that there are some barriers right now and that has been one of the principal, I suppose, issues that have the prevented the committee from looking at it further. And again, there has been no viable option, they have not presented any cost proposal to the committee."
Select Board member Michael Murphy said there was some cursory discussion about the possibility of administrative space or a substation at the mall but no formal proposal was brought to the steering committee about moving the entire complex into that location.
Renovating or replacing the police station has been under discussion for a number of years. The Police Station Committee was established a year ago to find a suitable site and design. The town will vote on the purchase of 405 South Main St. for the police complex build and the nearly $5.9 million project cost.
On Saturday, some residents' attempts to bring up the mall site as a viable location. The meeting ended in a shouting match when the Baker Hill Road District was brought up with committee Chair Kristen Tool telling them to be quiet because the meeting had nothing ti do with the district and ending the meeting.
Murphy said the vacant mall building is still not compliant with health, wastewater, groundwater, and other building codes that are required for future occupancy and are a barrier to development.
Recent letters from the state Department of Environmental Protection reinforced that point and, in December, the board voted to enter into further negotiations with JMJ Holdings on a host community agreement after delays due to the mall's poor condition.
The letter dated Feb. 22 proposes that the town negotiate a lease or unit purchase for a portion of the property, providing no cost figures but claiming that it would be far less than the $5.9 million. It recognizes that there would need to be an assessment for the project.
"We stand ready, willing, and able to negotiate a suitable lease rate/term or unit purchase as we want the Town's citizens to receive the benefits of an improved Police/EMS Facility and the Mall offers a cheaper and faster route to accomplishing that shared goal," it reads.
"I wanted to get this letter out to you prior to the upcoming Special Town Meeting as I think that the citizens are hungry for an alternative to the incredibly expensive proposal that's currently on the table. If the Mall ends up being the new home of the Police/EMS Facility, we believe that it would benefit the Town, its citizens, and in full transparency, it would also benefit our proposed operations by minimizing the already-low likelihood that our operation would become a target for criminals.
Resident Jen Lyon asked if the board had contacted the owner and Murphy responded that the communication came in at the 11th hour.
He said there was some brief discussion during the community host agreement process that referred to a substation but it was not considered an official offer. Murphy also does not see the letter as an official offer because it should have gone through the steering committee.
The letter was not handed over to the committee.
"If I was a business owner, let's say, and I contacted the highest level that we have of government, in Lanesborough is the Select Board, and I don't hear back, then how do I know what the next step is if there is not an open discussion?" Lyon asked.
"It just sounds to me like there wasn't a fully-fledged offer put out so this isn't a real viable issue when the reality is, if you receive an inquiry from your biggest taxpayer in town, making an offer to sit down and talk and no one follows up on that offer to talk, it's just hanging there."
Murphy said her point was well taken.
Attorney Mark Siegars, counsel for the Baker Hill Road District, found the letter to be very offensive and said it is a clear violation of the Public Procurement Act in the Inspector General's regulations regarding public buildings.
"I find it further offensive because he's in the middle of trying to negotiate a community host agreement and somebody could construe this as an attempt to buy the Select Board's agreement on the community host agreement by saying, 'Oh, if you give me my agreement, I'll give you some cheap property,'" he said.
"Well, I just find that reprehensible, especially from a lawyer who claimed he has 20 years of municipal law experience."
Siegars said he understands that it is the board's position the building has to be in compliance before there is discussion with the town. He added that the Board of Health needs to condemn the building and called it a "public health issue."
The Board of Health and the building inspector with be followed up with to make sure that things are being done accordingly to protect the town.
Note: updated to clarify the objections at Saturday's meeting were about the road district not the mall site.
Tags: Berkshire Mall, police station,
