Lanesborough Select Board Tables JMJ Negotiations
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Tensions swirled at Monday's Select Board meeting in light of conversations to dissolve the Baker Hill Road District.
The meeting started with public comment, including from Tim Grogan, development consultant for JMJ RE Holdings, who emphasized that without a dissolution of the road district, the potential sale and redevelopment with the mall would fall through.
He said the town expects about $760,000 in fiscal 2027 from the road district plus normal taxation. With redevelopment and no district, total income is projected to be around $1.1 million by 2029, he said, implying about a $300,000 annual surplus versus the status quo. He said he provided those calculations to the board.
Keeping the road district alive is not a compromise, Grogan said, referring to a proposal floated by the board last week to facilitate the mall's sale and work with the road district to reduce its tax assessment.
"This mentality by previous select boards and the Baker Hill Road District is what led the property to its current condition," he said. "Further, the Baker Hill Road District has every motive to make this compromise work, as their alternative is dissolution and non-existence. This practice is inherently in bad shape, and JMJ will not entertain any circumstance where the Baker Hill Road District continues to exist.
"JMJ is inclined and trying to be treated like any other business in the town, and taxes such just like every other major shopping center in the state, keeping the Baker Hill Road District in place will continue to discourage redevelopment, and in this moment will break the delicate balance that has been negotiated between JMJ, Lanesborough, and [buyer Cypress Equities] to the point where the project is no longer feasible, and the only choice is litigation."
Lyndon Moors, chair of the Finance Committee and recent appointee to the district's Prudential Committee, spoke personally in favor of keeping the district. He said it currently provides more than $500,000 per year to the town, which helps fund two police officers, fire and police vehicles, and over $100,000 per year for the Department of Public Works. He said losing that revenue could significantly impact town services and future budgets, especially as free cash may be lower going into FY28.
He suggests downsizing the district's budget to reduce the tax burden on the mall and Target, which owns its building separately, while still maintaining revenue for the town. The board should let the litigation play out and not be too hasty in making decisions, he said.
"I think it is unlikely that we will see $1.1 million from the mall property without Baker Hill Road District in FY29. That's what I just heard. We are in FY27 right now. I think that's very unlikely two fiscal years from now, that we are enjoying the tax benefits to the tune of $1.1 million. So I would encourage the Select Board to put on the brakes a little bit, continue to be thoughtful, responsive, deliberative, and let's continue to do what's best for the town," Moors said.
Moors mentioned a Facebook post posted by Blake Mensing, one of the owners of JMJ, on the town group with documents that could be relevant to the meeting, saying it looked as though he was trying to negotiate in public. Mensing said it was an exercise of his First Amendment rights and an attempt to provide transparency to residents, especially since JMJ's opportunity to speak is limited to public comment.
Vice Chair Julie Baker suggested the compromise, said she and board member Michael Murphy have had "very robust and constructive discussions with the district."
"The purpose of it was to see if we could work with them to lessen the special tax burden that the district imposes on the owners, all owners of the mall properties, and while keeping the special tax district in place to preserve the police, fire, police car, and road maintenance services that we received from that special taxation," she said.
Baker said the district is also interested in giving the road to the state, if the state allows. They also reviewed the district's $800,000 budget and discussed reductions but have not made concrete decisions.
"We find a great deal of interest in helping cut the budget there so that it would reduce the tax burden as well," she said. "So we're not ready with specific numbers yet on that, but there's certainly the willingness to make some major cuts into that budget."
Chair Deborah Maynard said she wants to dissolve the BHRD and that she would not want them to go ahead with the discussions.
"I'm disappointed that nothing else was pretty much done concretely. My opinion is to dissolve the Baker Hill Road District," she said. "I don't feel that any company that wants to come in, especially after seeing and hearing Cypress's plans, I don't feel that any Cypress is going to be developing and selling the lots so that the stores and whatever come in, and I don't feel the way the Baker Hill Road District is right now is going to do anything but hurt us."
Newest board member Jeffery Walter said he is interested in continuing discussions and that if the district is to dissolve, is there a way to only do so when the mall is sold.
The town's attorney Jeffrey Blake, who was on call during the meeting, said the way he read the agreement was not in that way.
"The way I read it, that's not how this agreement with Cypress and JMJ is. I believe that the Baker Hill Road District has to be to the satisfaction of the purchaser prior to the sale. It's a condition precedent for the sale," he said.
Maynard asked if Cypress could close if the dissolution is in progress but not fully signed into law yet. To which, Blake said they could but he can't speak for them.
Walters said he is concerned that if the district was dissolved and the sale didn't happen then they would have lost. Town Administrator Gina Dario explained Cypress Equities is engaging with the town, showing its interest in the sale as now they have a purchase-and-sale agreement, whereas in February they did not. JMJ is currently in the inspection period with Cypress.
"In this inspection period, we have had Cypress engaging with the town, asking questions about sewer lines, conservation, building inspections, working with our planning, or looking at pre-approval processes, so there is progress moving forward, and in good faith, that would indicate that they are moving ahead with this project," she said.
But Murphy made a point that the town has had no discussion with Cypress Equities.
The board voted to have Murphy and Blake continue discussions with BHRD with hope of more concrete changes.
The board then turned to the draft settlement agreement with JMJ.
Dario said it is not much different from the negotiations in February but key changes discussed were:
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$266,366 to be wired to the town within 15 days of permit approval for Cypress.
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The town must hold a special town meeting within a set timeline, with JMJ covering up to $3,500 of those costs.
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Another $849,799 to be wired within 15 days of the JMJ/Cypress closing or the dissolution of the Baker Hill Road District.
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If the home rule petition to be voted on by town meeting for the purpose of dissolving the Baker Hill Road District does not receive an affirmative vote, the $266,369 will be held in reserve by the town and applied to future Lanesborough tax assessments.
Maynard said she spoke to owner Jay Jones that since they did not receive the last payment in the fourth quarter of fiscal '26 from Baker Hill Road District, if he'd be amenable to giving an extra $48,000; he agreed but the funds would be given at the closing.
Baker said the district currently has about $451,000 in accounts payable. If the district is dissolved, those liabilities would fall to the town.
"So that 451 if you will, come right off the top of the 1.1 million. I mean, so the 1.1 million doesn't sound like such a big number anymore when you say that there are liabilities that the district has," Baker said.
She also wanted the public to be made aware the town is not liable to sue JMJ.
"I'm just saying this to make sure that the public is aware, that if the district were dissolved, that means there's no legal entity that could pursue the lawsuit against JMJ, and the back taxes that are owed right now are in the neighborhood of $1.7 million, and so I want to make sure that everybody is aware the town cannot sue JMJ, the district can sue JMJ," she said.
The board tabled the vote to consider more of the financial impacts especially with the new financial analysis that came from Grogan on Monday morning.
Tags: Berkshire Mall, road district,
