LENOX — The light is now turning green. A relocation by the Berkshire BMW and Audi-VW dealership from Merrill Road in Pittsfield to Route 7 and 20 (Pittsfield Road) at New Lenox Road has won unanimous backing from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
A series of 4-0 votes on the site plan and multiple special permits for the $14 million project clears the way, although the Conservation Commission still would need to approve the plan, potentially on Tuesday.
There’s also the standard 20 calendar-day appeal period after ZBA Chairman Robert Fuster Jr. submits his written decision to the town clerk’s office at Lenox Town Hall, expected within several weeks.
The site plan includes town-approved demolition of the long-established Different Drummer’s Kitchen store, two vacant houses and several outbuildings on the four-acre parcel at the busy intersection.
At Thursday night’s hybrid ZBA meeting, attorney Jeffrey Lynch, representing the McGee Automotive Group, Hanover-based owner of the upscale dealership, presented some revisions to the project.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has now ordered a reduction of Pittsfield Road entrances and exits from two to one curb cut for a single widened access driveway for customers and staff to and from the two adjacent dealership buildings.
A left-turn lane for southbound Pittsfield Road traffic onto New Lenox Road will be maintained. Motorists can enter the dealerships on the access roadway, from the Pittsfield Road (Route 7 & 20) left-turn lane. They can depart, making either right or left turns onto the state highway.
A new driveway from the dealerships onto New Lenox Road will be reserved for larger truck traffic exiting the facility to turn right, queuing up at the existing traffic light for turns onto Pittsfield Road. The gated entrance will require an access code for the one-ton and up trucks and is not available for dealership customers or staff.
A restricted conservation area adjacent to Yokun Brook will be created, per Conservation Commission guidance.
“We’re hoping we’re getting the commission to a comfort level that what we’re proposing is protective of the environment and the riverfront area,” Lynch commented.
Prior to the ZBA votes, member Kimberly Duval called the auto dealership project “well thought-out and well-developed, and it will truly improve this portion of Lenox.”
She suggested that “there’s always a balance between people who want something and people who don’t.” But Duval emphasized that the area is fully commercially-zoned and that the McGee applicants had gone “above and beyond” to satisfy the requests of neighbors opposing the project as well as prior concerns expressed by the zoning board.
“We have a lot of other dilapidated properties across the town in need of new life, and we’d do well to consider business opportunities and the needs of residents from here on out, as we’ve been doing,” Duval said.
Board member Jedd Hall, acknowledging neighborhood worries, also cited commercial zoning and argued that the McGee group and attorney Lynch have been extremely sensitive and responsive to concerns raised by citizens.
“An investment by McGee, considering the time and expense, is super-beneficial for Lenox residents, for employment and creating a flagship store, erasing some of the blight sitting on that corner,” Hall said.
ZBA member Dr. Clifford Snyder called his upcoming vote “a tough decision” since the scope of the project is “very large and complicated.” He listed multiple concerns and acknowledged that arguments in favor of the project outweighed any negatives.
Fuster, the board chairman, voiced sympathy for the nearby condo residents but pointed out that they should know that they live in a commercial zone, “the only place where dealerships can go. … I would prefer this project to the rotting houses that are there,” a reference to vacant structures adjacent to Different Drummer’s Kitchen.
Noting that the Conservation Commission and MassDOT still need to sign off on the project, Fuster predicted that “this will be a good project, and limiting access to New Lenox Road will be beneficial. I hope and pray it succeeds, it’s ultimately beneficial to the town, it’s good for the neighborhood, good for the tax base.”
Earlier in the 90-minute discussion, Fuster acknowledged receiving more than 200 pages of correspondence about the proposal, including a petition, which has been signed by 152 opponents as of Friday afternoon.
During public comment, Pam Tworig, representing the Meisberger family owners of Different Drummer’s Kitchen, said she had been upset by critics “attempting to create fear by misrepresenting or making up issues in order to try to stop commercial development of the real estate.”
She pushed back against suggestions that the auto dealerships would create traffic safety problems at the Pittsfield and New Lenox road intersection.
Tworig — also the real estate agent for Different Drummer’s Kitchen — asserted that the cookware business has had tractor-trailer truck traffic frequently entering and exiting the location for over 30 years with no problems.
Andrew Meisberger, owner of the cookware store, stressed that the parcels sought by the McGee group are in the one-acre commercial zone. He questioned the right of nearby condo owners to oppose development of his and adjacent properties “for the use called for in the town’s master plan.”
Brenda Reed, a part-time resident of the neighboring Rolling Hills condominium development, contended that “these two very large businesses will change the nature of the corner. We’ve been accused of being anti-business, that’s completely false.” She expressed support for other local businesses in the area.
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April 30, 2023 at 04:00PM
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Green light for a new Lenox auto dealership? Almost - Berkshire Eagle
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