NORTHFIELD — The Planning Board will meet Monday to deliberate on the proposed Pierson Road campground, which has been contested by residents during multiple public hearings.
With the public hearing portion having closed on Sept. 26, Monday’s meeting at Town Hall at 6 p.m. will involve board discussion. However, it is unclear if a decision will be made on whether to approve the Idyllwood campground during Monday’s meeting.
If approved, the campground will be constructed on Moody Center property, along Pierson Road. According to the plans presented by Moody Center President Emmitt Mitchell and Christian Arnold, founder of the Clockwork Architecture company that will develop the campground, at the Sept. 26 public hearing, it would consist of 12 cabins and 27 large furnished tents. Idyllwood rates would be approximately $125 a night.
During the hearing, residents questioned if the cabins on the property would be considered “dwellings,” while others questioned if the property qualified as a subdivision.
“The cabins do qualify as camping structures, not as dwellings,” Northfield Planning Board Chair Stephen Seredynski said. “Cabins are not for rent, they are for a short-term stay.”
He added that the Planning Board consulted with Northfield’s town counsel, KP Law, to make sure the proposed campground complies with zoning regulations.
“There are hundreds of pages of regulations that we have gone through,” Seredynski explained.
According to the Northfield zoning bylaws adopted at Annual Town Meeting on May 1, 2017, a dwelling is defined as “a building or portion thereof designed exclusively for residential occupancy, including single family, two-family and multifamily dwellings, but not including hotels, motels, boarding houses, trailers or structures solely for transient or overnight occupancy.”
Additionally, the zoning bylaws cite a campground as being “any area that is occupied or intended or designed or improved for seasonal occupancy by transients … for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes and is held out as such to the public. The term ‘campground’ does not include a manufactured housing community or mobile home park.”
Under specific regulations for a campground, the qualifying amenities for a dwelling may be permitted as the cabins would be built with the intention of “transient or overnight occupancy.” Additionally, the plan does not qualify as a subdivision because the property is remaining as a singular, undivided lot, Seredynski said.
According to Building Inspector James Hawkins, to be considered a dwelling, the cabins would need sleeping areas, a bathroom and a kitchen. Despite the ongoing conversation at recurring Planning Board meetings, Hawkins said nobody has reached out to him to discuss — or ask for his input on — the campground, though there is no requirement to do so.
“Zoning is the jurisdiction of the Planning Board,” Hawkins said.
The building inspector would become involved to help enforce a special permit however, once it is granted by the Planning Board. Seredynski said the camp needs a special permit under the revised zoning regulations from 2017.
Other resident concerns involve whether the development would impact their normally quiet neighborhoods and lower their property values. However, Seredynski said the impact on property values is impossible to predict.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 264.