To the editor:
I want to clarify the issue at hand concerning the proposed hotel development at the Searles School site. This is not about weighing new tax income vs. the downward pull of a “derelict” building. Nor is it about whether a proposed 95-room hotel would succeed.
Before either of those issues is considered, the Selectboard needs to answer just one question:Does the proposed development rehabilitate a historic structure?
The intent of the bylaw is clear: to give an incentive to developers willing to take on the added expense and difficulty of saving and reusing a historic building. For their efforts — and only for those added efforts — can they exceed the 45-room limit.
Searles, at 117 years and in spite of its current state, is probably a sturdier building than the average school (or hotel) built today. It may not be as exceptional or beautiful as, say, St James Church, for example. But it is still worth saving (and, in fact, it’s a companion to Town Hall in style).
If the developers want to tear it down, it won’t be the end of the world. And their job will certainly be easier. And if that were to pass, I’d be fine with a 45-room hotel on the site. A 45-room hotel– even with a conference facility — would be a vastly better fit in the neighborhood, and mean less traffic and parking and, hopefully, more green space.
But if they absolutely have to have their 95 rooms, then they must do better than creating a facsimile of two facades. And let’s be clear — that is all they propose: two new facades of similar dimensions to the originals, without the distinctive window openings, and in new locations on the site. And those facades (of a similar brick? The same brick? History-flavored brick?) would not even span the length of either side, but would sit atop a vastly larger building like a carnival mask on an elephant.
To create something that looks historic is not the same as rehabilitating a venerable old building. The bylaw is clear. Please hold the applicants to it.
Eric Shamie
27 Humphrey St.
Great Barrington
The writer is partners with Bobby Houston in the redevelopment (Green House Partners) of the former Dolby Florists property on Humphrey Street.
