GREENFIELD — The Conservation Commission began reviewing plans for a three-story hotel being proposed for the vacant lot at 125 Mohawk Trail this week.
The commission did not reach any decisions on Tuesday, and the hearing was continued to its next meeting, set for Aug. 11, to allow developer DVR Greenfield LLC of Springfield and designer Berkshire Design Group more time to provide the commission with additional details on the existing conditions of the property, which falls within the wetland buffer zone and 25 feet from the no-disturb zone to a stream.
The 3.29-acre lot was previously home to the Rodeway Inn that was torn down in 2018 to be redeveloped into another hotel and separate restaurant. Those plans never came to fruition, and the property was ultimately sold again in 2022 to Mag Real Estate Holdings Mohawk Trail LLC for $2.75 million.
Jeff Squire, a landscape architect with Berkshire Design Group, told the commission that he sees the current proposal as an extension of the previous idea, as DVR Greenfield is likewise looking to build a hotel and separate sit-down restaurant on the site.
Squire said the plan is to build a three-story hotel with 92 rooms farther back on the lot, and a 5,800-square-foot restaurant closer to the road, with parking on the sides and in between the buildings. The plan, he added, is “more or less” similar to the previously approved 2018 project.
“New owners of the site have picked up that previous site with a new proposal, which is a three-story hotel building on the site and a single sit-down restaurant up front, and the rest would be dedicated to parking,” Squire said. “It’s one less story, two more rooms, so there’s a slightly larger footprint, but in terms of impact on resource areas, we’ve attempted to bring everything outside of the 25-foot ‘no disturb’ zone.”
In terms of drainage and landscaping, Squire said the plan is to connect to the existing culverts on the site, expand the bio-retention area and catch basins, and plant trees and shrubs, mostly native to Franklin County, around the property.
Conservation Commission Chair Elizabeth Garofalo said she would understand if the developers needed to plant more urban-friendly plants in the landscaped islands in the middle of the parking lot, but the commission would be a “stickler” for having species native to the county planted within their jurisdictional area of the wetlands.
Commission Vice Chair Travis Drury expressed concern with the existing conditions report that was submitted, as the conditions used were those reported by the previous developer for the approved application from 2018, when there had been a building there.
“The site currently has a different owner,” Drury said. “These are different developers and the project is for a different building than originally.”
Conservation Agent Jessica Siegel shared site images that show how some vegetation has taken over the site since it has been left empty, but there is still a lot of rubble where the old building used to be.
During public comment, neighbors of the property said they are not opposed to a hotel being constructed, as there was one there previously, but they wanted to ensure consideration is given to impacts on traffic and privacy for the abutting properties.
“The Miner Street and Shelburne Road and Mohawk Trail intersections are a mess at various times of day,” abutter Jean McIntyre said. “It’s a concern to residents.”
Rishi Patel with DVR Greenfield said the LLC is a family business, and that his family has been in western Massachusetts for decades and is committed to working with the community, which is why when they reviewed previous hearings and concerns from the 2018 proposal to build a four-story hotel, they opted for a smaller three-story structure.
“When we first picked up this project, the first thing we did was look into what was there before, what was previously approved and how the whole process went,” Patel said. “We wanted to approach this from a very intentional perspective, from a community perspective, because that is our first and foremost responsibility.”
DVR Greenfield has not yet announced the name or brand for the hotel. However, Dinesh Patel, the resident agent listed for the LLC on the state corporations database, also co-owns and manages a Marriott Hotel in Springfield.
Greenfield Planning Director Ella Wise said that, in addition to the Conservation Commission hearings, the Zoning Board of Appeals will also hold a hearing on the proposal. That hearing has not yet been scheduled.
