Great Barrington — On March 25, the Thornewood Inn moved one step closer to providing a much-needed resource for Great Barrington workers: affordable housing.
The Great Barrington Selectboard unanimously approved a special permit for the property at 453 Stockbridge Road to the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire (CDCSB), allowing up to 20 rooms at the former hotel and 2.5-acre property, with the proviso that a minimum of 60 percent of the rooms rented accommodate Great Barrington workers. The permit also requires the Great Barrington-based CDCSB, the site’s slated buyer, to show evidence to the board every six months that the rental requirement was fulfilled. A closing on the property is expected this spring.
Representing CDCSB, Interim Executive Director Philip Orenstein called the permitting history of the property “somewhat opaque.” Although the Thornewood Inn has been operating for the past 40 years as an inn or small hotel, the actual special permit pertaining to its operation hasn’t been found, with Orenstein needing to confirm that it will continue to operate as a hotel for the CDCSB’s financial closing documents.
The Great Barrington Community Preservation Committee also contributed to the project’s funding.
Housing 15 rooms currently, plans for the Thornewood include adding three rooms by using part of the public space on the structure’s main floor. Each room will contain a private bathroom but not a kitchen or dining room, with those accommodations to be shared by all guests. No pets or children will be allowed, and, although one or two of the rooms will comply with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), the building itself won’t be ADA compliant.
The lease for each room will be on a month-to-month basis, with extending months based on ensuring the applicants remain qualified pursuant to work and income standards. All utilities, including heat, hot water, internet, and snow plowing are included in the monthly rent. Bicycle storage will also be provided. “So there’s no additional bills that will go to the residents,” Orenstein said.
The group is in the process of hiring a third-party manager and is looking to Berkshire Property Managers to fill that position. Upon questioning by Selectboard Vice Chair Leigh Davis regarding the management company’s experience vetting affordable housing applicants, Orenstein replied that effort is not the company’s focus “right now” and “the [management] firm’s Principal has a background in that area.”
Regarding its site on busy Route 7, Orenstein said Thornewood also has a back entrance/exit onto Route 183 and traffic established in its prior use as a hotel and restaurant exceeds its planned continued use as only a small hotel. David Thorne, who currently owns the property with Terry Thorne, said no major accidents have occurred at the intersection in the past 41 years of his tenure there.
A portion of the parcel will stay with the Thornes as the agreement covers the inn, garden, and northside parking. Buildable space is available on the tract, but Orenstein said this application doesn’t include a proposal to add tiny homes or small cottages, additions that may be considered in the future depending on demand.
Davis and member Garfield Reed voiced concern over the proposed monthly unit rent of $1,050 to $1,400, rates that seem high given the lack of in-unit kitchens.
According to Orenstein, the project will be operated as “a standalone nonprofit.” Three units at the higher end of the rental range will be set at $1,200 to $1,400 to subsidize the costs of the lower-priced rooms, with the larger rooms more akin to one-bedroom garden apartments boasting bigger, en-suite bathrooms, he said. Those rates are still priced well within affordable housing guidelines, Orenstein said.
Member Benjamin Elliott pointed out the savings for residents by having their monthly utility costs included in the rent.
Davis, who is also the community engagement and communications director for affordable housing provider Construct Inc., said she was “very excited” about the project but questioned what will happen to the rooms at the higher end of the range should they not be rented.
“We’re very mindful that we need to accommodate the demand that’s out there,” Orenstein answered. “So, if we have many more residents who are interested in the smaller rooms for $1,000 to $1,200 and a shortage of residents interested in those larger, slightly higher priced rooms, we’re going to figure out a way to modify that. We’re not going to sit there stubbornly with the empty rooms and unmet demand.”
Orenstein asked the board for flexibility on how his organization restricts the pricing on the rooms.
Ten of the hotel rooms are to be rented to guests or households earning a maximum of 100 percent of area median income; five rooms are to be rented to guests earning 80 percent to 120 percent of the area median income; and up to three rooms can be rented at market price. “So, we have a fair amount of flexibility to restructure the pricing to the extent that the demand does not perfectly fit into our pricing structure as it is on the spreadsheet,” Orenstein said. “Because, at the end of the day, we don’t know exactly who wants these units and who wants to live there.”
However, he said, conversations the group has had with others, including Construct, points to a high demand for affordable housing in the area, and he added that they “should fill it up.”
Orenstein said the CDCSB’s intent for the project is that its residents show they are employed in Great Barrington. “That’s been part of the business plan all along,” he said.
Some of the units may be rented by resident workers in neighboring communities such as Sheffield, but all of the rooms are required to be occupied by individuals working in southern Berkshire County.
“We are not set up to provide social services to individuals who are going through a life crisis, who are moving through some sort of transformational period in their lives,” Orenstein said. “We’re approaching a bit of a different audience than some other properties in town. These people have jobs in town; they’re just not making enough money to support what is very expensive housing here in Great Barrington.”
Orenstein has spoken with various local businesses to determine their employees’ interest in residency, with Berkshire Health Systems entering into a sponsorship arrangement for their Fairview Hospital staff “to support the project as well as get priority access for the rooms for their employees as they need them.” He said the group has also reached out to Community Health Programs Berkshires and others in a similar way.
The rooms aren’t aimed at seasonal patrons of the Berkshires who don’t have ties to the community, with the vetting process employed to rule out those applicants, Orenstein said.
“If someone wants to come to Great Barrington and work in our restaurants for the high summer season, where the restaurants are desperate for chefs and waiters, I think that’s what we want to have happen,” Chair Stephen Bannon said.
With an opening slated for this spring, the Thornewood is accepting wait list applicants here.
At the meeting, the board unanimously approved its comment to the Environmental Protection Agency covering the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site Quality of Life Compliance Plan, a plan that addresses how issues such as noise, odor, light, and air quality will be handled during the Rest of River remediation project slated to continue for 10 to 13 years in its initial phases. The Great Barrington comment expanded on the need for the plan to focus on the visual impacts of the project; provide “open and transparent” communication to residents; offer specific air quality, odor, noise, and light monitoring rather than an averaging of each of these effects; include a sampling of dust within the plan to monitor the air quality; provide a plan for making river recreation accessible following the remediation and include measures to cross over barriers such as rail tracks or slopes; and “recognize that what is ‘quality of life’ to one community at one point in time may in fact change over the long life of this remediation process.” The deadline for comments on the plan is March 29.
Additionally, the board delayed a special permit application for an addition to the Timberlyn Heights Care Center as requested by the applicant; approved a paint stewardship program; approved liquor licenses to Great Barrington Fish & Game Association for various events; approved a temporary weekday entertainment license to Bard College at Simon’s Rock for a June 8 event; approved an application from Common or Garden Pub that allows food service; approved an All Alcohol License to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center for a new venue; approved a Veterans of Foreign Wars request to close part of Main Steet on May 27 for a Memorial Day Parade; and rescinded a recommendation for Community Impact Funding (monies collected from the sale of cannabis products to be awarded to town departments or organizations) as an item on the annual Town Meeting Warrant.
The Selectboard set its next meeting dates for April 8, 22 (Town Warrant approval), and 29.
