GREENFIELD — While the Zoning Board of Appeals did not vote on the proposed three-story hotel and restaurant on the Mohawk Trail, members indicated their support for the project on Thursday night.
The board is set to continue discussion and potentially vote on a special permit at its next meeting in September. This will allow applicant DVR Greenfield LLC, owned by the Patel family of Springfield, and Berkshire Design Group more time to look into Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant pathways for guests to get from the proposed three-story hotel at the back of the 3.29-acre lot to the front, where a LongHorn Steakhouse is being planned, as well as further review options for traffic mitigation.
“It takes a lot to make a plan like this work, you know — fitting all the puzzle pieces in and fitting in between easements,” board member Charles Roberts said. “There’s a lot here that’s right. I do think it’s over-parked.”
The site plan shows 236 parking spaces, for both the hotel and restaurant, including eight ADA-compliant parking spaces.
Throughout the meeting, board members weighed the number of parking spaces in the plan, and heard from members of the public who were concerned it was too many. Attendees also shared that they would rather see more plantings and vegetation.
DVR Greenfield LLC owner Dinesh Patel told attendees that the number of spots is required by LongHorn Steakhouse. If the board were to reduce the number of spaces, it could cause partners to back out of the project, he said, adding that if the special permit was denied and he had to wait two years, as required by city bylaws, to submit another application, he was not sure of the feasibility of the project.
According to LongHorn Steakhouse’s site selection criteria, locations are required to have 127 parking spaces.
“I feel amenable to the project,” member Mark Maloni added. “I hear the concerns about the overparking — I just, at the same time, for me, it’s not a hill I would die on. I don’t know I that I would risk jeopardizing the entire project to get rid of a few parking spaces.”
Residents who were unable to attend the hearing but submitted written testimony ahead of time urged the ZBA to decline the proposal as is. They wrote that so much parking, particularly within the 25-foot setback facing the Mohawk Trail, would create an eyesore for those coming into Greenfield from the rotary.
Planning Board Chair Jeff Sauser wrote that he is in favor of the development, and he thinks a hotel and restaurant would be a great addition to the city. However, he expressed concern with waiving the 25-foot setback requirements to allow for additional parking.
“I think we should consider the structure of Mohawk Trail this side of the rotary as a gateway to downtown and an expansion of Main Street,” Sauser wrote. “I hope this site design can be adjusted to present a more inviting and pedestrian-oriented frontage, such as shifting the building to the sidewalk edge and pushing more parking behind.”
Board members said the proposed design is much nicer than what currently exists. The property at 125 Mohawk Trail was previously home to the Rodeway Inn, however, the hotel was torn down in 2018 to make room for a different hotel, retail plaza and fast food restaurant. That proposed development was approved and permitted, but never came to fruition, and since then, the site has stayed vacant except for a small lot used for parking.
“I still think that this is gonna be an upgrade to what we currently experience as we travel down [the Mohawk Trail],” Maloni said.
Kris Baker with Berkshire Design Group said the firm had gone through many iterations of the layout of the site and the proposed plan with the 5,780-square-foot restaurant in the front and the three-story, 92-room hotel in the back is the only configuration they could find that worked with an existing Massachusetts Department of Transportation easement for water drainage, and that ensures easy Fire Department access around both buildings.
He added that the site plan includes 36% vegetation, higher than the previously approved permit for the 2018 project. The Conservation Commission is also reviewing planting plans.
Baker said the proposed project would have less of a visual impact on neighbors than the previously permitted one. A 6-foot privacy fence was included on the plans for the northern border of the property line to protect the residential neighborhood, and throughout conversation with the board, applicants expressed willingness to increase the fence height to 8 feet. Baker added that the parking lots would be less bright than previously permitted, as the bulbs would be angled down directly to the lot and have a light intensity of 0.97.
Board members also heard residents’ concerns about potential impacts on the nearby Newton School. Shaun Kelly, a senior project manager with Chappell Engineering, said the project is not anticipated to have much impact on the school, as the peak hours of the businesses do not align with school drop-off and pick-up times.
Kelly presented a traffic study and reported that the Mohawk Trail sees approximately 18,400 vehicles on weekdays and 15,600 on weekends. Peak traffic hours see an average of 1,340 to 1,620 vehicles per hour during weekdays and 1,490 vehicles per hour on Saturdays.
The traffic study estimates that during weekday morning peak hours, the proposed development would add 37 new trips to that average. In the evening peak hours, Chappell Engineering expects 68 new trips to be added, and an extra 85 trips are anticipated midday on weekends.
Board members also considered concerns about drivers pulling out of the parking lot and trying to make a left turn onto Route 2A, and drivers trying to turn right onto Miner Street and driving into the residential neighborhood.
They considered requiring the turn onto the Mohawk Trail to be right-turn only, and the Miner Street turn to be left-turn only, but board members did not make any decisions, as Chair David Singer noted those requirements could have unforeseen impacts and be detrimental to traffic in the area.
After lengthy discussion, board members said they were not yet ready to vote. Moving forward, they asked DVR Greenfield LLC and Berkshire Design Group to look into creating accessible pathways for people to easily travel from the hotel to the restaurant, and access the restaurant from the sidewalk, as well as further screening and vegetation.
Members said this will also give them time to see what the Conservation Commission decides on the project at its next meeting, set for Aug. 25.
“I support the project,” Singer said. “I heard the person who spoke about the landscape design and the idea that we really want to have these kind of projects look as good as they could look, but I feel like it’s all about balancing stuff and I think I’m gonna take the applicant at face value.
“They’ve done everything they could to comply with our requests,” Singer continued, “even landscaping it beyond what we even asked for. … It’s really their problem that they have too much parking.”
