Update on Berkshire Mall Expected at Board Meeting
LANESBOROUGH, Mass.— There will be some kind of update on the Berkshire Mall at Monday's Select Board meeting.
Amidst legal action and the mall owners, JMJ RE Holdings, announcing a new health-care partner, the Finance Committee wants to know the possible impact of a 400-unit senior living facility at 655 Cheshire Road on town resources.
The project team was set for an introductory meeting with town representatives on Wednesday, and an update on the mall restoration effort is expected on Monday. Town Administrator Gina Dario said it's an initial introduction, "But I've gotten no other brief. I think they are trying to establish a connection."
During last Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting, members raised questions about the proposal and expressed concerns about what they did not know.
"As it is right now, Lanesborough doesn't have a space that's big enough for more than 10 percent of our population to come and vote at one time," member Kristen Tool said.
"And so we're talking about an increase of 15 to 20 percent of our population. Again, I don't think anyone in this town wants to say, ‘Oh, those are just the seniors that live over there, and they're not part of the community.' That doesn't feel good to me. I don't think it feels good to anyone in this town."
The Baker Hill Road District is in litigation with JMJ over unpaid taxes for the Route 7/8 Connector Road, and JMJ argues it is being overbilled and underrepresented.
Officials thought the funding gap might have to be raised through the local tax rate, but that is no longer the case. Though committee members would like to know how town departments would respond to hundreds of new tenants and employees on the shuttered site.
JMJ has cited a feasibility study that informs its planning, but committee members pointed out that they haven't yet seen these documents and have gotten most of their information from local media.
"As much as I admire iBerkshires, I don't like getting all my information from iBerkshires," Chair Lyndon Moors joked.
Last week, JMJ announced its collaboration with Integritus Healthcare to redevelop the shuttered mall into campus-style senior housing that includes supportive and ancillary retail space.
The prior day, the mall owner's consultant Timothy Grogan, of the Housing Development Corp., said the feasibility study was ordered in conjunction with Integritus, and information is considered proprietary. He said he may be able to provide a summary with the health-care company's permission.
He said the redeveloped mall would be a "huge tax boon," and imagined those funds would be used to support extra services such as police, fire, and emergency medical services.
"We don't expect, given the monumentality of this development, to have to foot additional funds in regard to that," Grogan said.
Committee members agreed that they would hear Monday's update before making requests for information.
Moors extended an open invitation for the project team to be on the Finance Committee's agenda to talk about matters that are appropriate to their charge. JMJ expects it to take roughly three years.
"It can only be a what-if at this point anyway, but I think it's a good game to play for a while, to periodically say, 'Based on the current story, what would be the potential impact to your department?' I think that would be helpful, because, like I said, it's not necessarily for budgeting purposes now, but it's for the ongoing conversation," he said.
"Because a project this size, we're not going to start with the conclusion. It will be an ongoing conversation. And I think these factors are unmentioned, but I think they're important to consider as we move through the process."
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