North Adams Planners OK Parking Lot Construction at Blackinton Mill

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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An illustration of how the parking lot will be configured at the mill.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Planning Board on Monday approved the second phase of the Blackinton Mill renovations that will construct a parking lot on Ashton Avenue where the Widen Tannery used to be. 
 
The parking and delivery area will serve the light industry in the mill, a cabin building venture approved in January, and other uses. The application by the Tourists resort had depended on the development of a parking lot at that time. 
 
Civil engineer Tim Wong of Waterfield Design Group of Winchester presented the plans via Zoom. 
 
 "Our proposed project is the replacement of an existing brownfield, old mill building site that has dirt piles and debris with a 56-vehicle parking lot loading area, accessible entrance to the mill building and vehicle access lane with the tunnel to the basement elevation of the mill building," he said. 
 
The tunnel has been part of the plans for the redevelopment of the woolen mill for years to provide access for the Adventure Trail -- a bike path running from Williamstown to Adams. Part of the trail will run through Tourists' property between Route 2 and Massachusetts Avenue. 
 
The plans provide for drainage improvements and will occur within an already disturbed and degraded area. The tannery burned in 1995 and the land is now owned by the city. 
 
The project is being funded through a MassWorks grant and Wong said the city and McClain Electric, which owns a portion of the site, have signed off on it. 
 
"There's wetland on the site with the green line here, and it's the area of the former mill building's tail race," said Wong, referring to colorized plans he was displaying. "The site has been reviewed and approved by Conservation Commission and with order of conditions."
 
The lot includes a loading area, loading ramps, accessible walkways and stairs to the mill building door, and a driveway access that goes down to the mill building basement.
 
Wong said the parking lot meets with site plan criteria with the exception of a curb cut on the south side which will need to be wider. 
 
"The applicant is looking for a waiver for that distance, because of curb cut needed, and the radius needed for these large delivery trucks," he said. "In the plans for simplicity is 80 feet wide, which is matching the width of the parking lot. ... that's being asked for so that these large delivery trucks can turn off Ashton safely and with enough clearance.
 
The lot will also have lighting and "care has been taken not to have flare or spill over into the right of way to the road to to the bike path," said Wong, assuring Planner Paul Senecal that they will not impede on the neighbors.
 
Drainage includes rain gardens and a proprietary separator, with overflow going into the town system, and catch basins. 
 
"The idea is that we capture into the rain gardens to be able to treat and and store, stormwater in an ecologically friendly way," he said.
 
In response to questions, Wong said it will be tested for hazardous waste but the parking area is a plateau that will be raised and bury the soil. 
 
Eric Kerns, partner in the enterprise, said the piles of material at the site is clean fill. 
 
"There was brownfield remediation done in the early 2000s after the tannery burned down in 1995," he said. "The plan for this always has been no digging, only changing the grade by adding material. So that is clean fill that was tested and everything that's been put there in order to be spread around and create a new grade."
 
The site continues to be tested and reportd to the state Department of Environmental Protection and will be capped by the parking lot, he continued. It is not related to the hide mound cleanup that is being remediated through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant. 
 
In other business, the board approved a change of use application from Meredith Schade for a short-term rental unit at 15 Ballou St. 

Tags: Blackinton Mill,   parking,   Planning Board,   

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Main & Mill: A Vibrant New Restaurant on Main Street

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — You can now enjoy another eatery on Main Street by well-known restaurant siblings Colleen and Sean Taylor.

Their restaurant Main & Mill opened for the first time Tuesday, bringing their vision of creating something vibrant and new to downtown North Adams.

"We have created Main & Mill to be part of our day. It's very seasonal ingredients, thoughtful cooking, beauty, beautiful presentation and dishes. And we really wanted to be part of the community, the downtown area, and start a vibrant area on this end, which has been shuttered for a while," said Colleen.

The building is owned by Ginko on Main Street LLC, which has granted 20 years exclusive possession of the property to Latent Builds as the developer. Jack and Suzy Wadsworth, behind Ginko, are development partners with Karla Rothstein and Salvatore Perry of Latent.

The bank closed in early 2021 and was purchased by Ginko late that year. Plans for the property unveiled three years ago envisioned a restaurant, retail, a park and rooftop bar. 

Colleen saw potential and said she initially wanted the building when it first went up for sale. Being good friends with Rothstein and Perry, she helped them design the kitchen and the bar before learning in March that she could lease it as a restaurant space, something she told them would be a great idea.

She said one of the most important things about the restaurant was the collaboration between Rothstein, Perry, and the Wadsworths, who put a lot of time and energy into the building.

"If Sean and I had done it, we would not be able to do what the collaboration supported. The collaboration of the three of us being able to really have that kind of money to put in down here. The design that the architecture firm that Carla and Sal own is stunning," she said. "The time and effort, everyone came together to do this in a really trusting manner."

The two wanted the restaurant to be an all-day venture, so people could eat at any point throughout the day, all week long.

"We wanted it to be open for coffee and socialization in the morning where people can meet, have their cup of coffee, have a quiche, a vegetarian quiche, or croissant or yogurt. Something intentional with their coffee," she said. "Then move into a lunchtime for the downtown business or anybody, and then go into supper, dinner, with drinks later into the evening. So have it really be open all day long, so that there wasn't a void on any particular day."

They also wanted to do something different than the other restaurants they owned.

"We didn't want to mimic any other restaurant in town. We wanted to bring something that was inspiring, something that had some familiar things that people would see, and other things that we would bring to them for them to experience," she said.

As a woman business owner, Colleen said she wanted to bring a female chef into the kitchen. 

Colleen brought on Chef Anna DeRose, who she said puts twists on a lot of her dishes.

"So we have a creme brulee, but our creme brulee is topped with marshmallow," she said. "Our creme brulee is like almost two desserts in one. It's a s'mores creme brulee. So you could have a s'mores, and you could have a creme brulee - but when you put both of them together, fireworks go off."

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