To the editor:
I am writing to oppose the Special Permit for the proposed “Berkshire” hotel at the forthcoming Selectboard meeting.
We came to GB in 2011, purchasing a run-down property (community-significant in its own way) and putting upwards of $500,000 into its renovation — money that was spent exclusively on local contractors and materials. The taxes that the Briarcliff contributes have gone from about $11,000 to around $32,000, and inasmuch as you can ever be happy to pay taxes, we are happy to do it because we believe in this town.
Great Barrington is in a great place right now: it has a good mix of full- and part-time residents and visitors, lots of independent businesses, and healthy but not problematic levels of traffic. Many towns would kill for the PR we get, and the sophisticated visitors who choose to come here because they see that here is a place that ISN’T bland Corporateville. Our visitors seek out independent stores and restaurants, and load up with take-home food from the Farmer’s Market.
A massive chain hotel will irreversibly alter the spirit of GB and set a whole new precedent for development going forward. What next? Home Depot instead of Carr Hardware? Starbucks instead of Fuel and Rubi’s? Chipotle instead of Prairie Whale?
We hear that the proposed development will be a “boutique hotel.” Boutique hotels, by industry definition, are small, personal, individual and repurpose existing buildings, which is what I believe the Town had in mind when it passed the variance last year.
This proposal is not a boutique hotel. It’s a big box hotel. We all understand that the developer concerned works as a franchisee for brands, and those brands demand absolute adherence to their specifications. If you want to get into bed with Hilton, or Marriott, or Motel Six, then you conform absolutely to their specifications, from toilets to towels. You can’t be a ‘little bit’ Hilton — it would be like being a little bit pregnant.
One final point: we read that the “tax benefi”’ to the town will be $450,000. Firstly, as hoteliers familiar with the Berkshires this seems generously high. Secondly, will this really be “new” money into the town? Or will most of it just come at the expense of established independent businesses in town? Is a large chain really going to expand the business base, or just cannibalize it?
We lived in London for thirty years and continually saw areas that were organically-grown hives of individuality and creativity gobbled up by big brands, which proceeded to eat everyone else alive and kill the area stone dead. Please don’t let this happen in Great Barrington. Please deny the Special Permit.
Clare and Richard Proctor
Great Barrington
The writers are owners of the Briarcliff Motel.
