The key word in Lenox news is housing.
Pennrose held the grand opening of Forge, a new mixed-income rental community for individuals and families in Lenox, MA two weeks ago. The community features 65 apartment units across 13 townhome-style buildings, along with a modern clubhouse and shared amenity spaces. Lenox Select Board member, Marybeth Mitts, told SU that 60 more housing units will be built within a mile along Route 7 helping Lenox reach the State mandate of 10% affordable housing.
At the other end of the economic scale, in Lenox and Stockbridge, Vanderbilt Berkshire Estate has proposed 38 houses to be built on its 89 acre Elm Court estate.
Similarly, Spring Lawn proposes 24 units on the property at 10 Kemble Street, and in Stockbridge, Patrick Sheehan, owner of the Desisto School with over 300 acres, proposed approximately 209 housing units – a mix of hotel units, condominiums, and single-family homes. In Special Permits, both Elm Court and Desisto committed to restoring the houses while Spring Lawn proposed demolition of the house and building a replica.
It raises a concern: if the substantial cost of the project is restoration or replication of the historic buildings, and the substantial profit is in new construction, ultimately, will any of the historic houses be saved?
Spring Lawn made a case for, and forged a path to, demolition, that is, going directly to the State, bypassing local commissions and local bylaws, claiming the Berkshire Cottage is beyond repair. https://berkshireeagle-ma.newsmemory.com/?publink=0576f5740_13521ff
No one can argue that all three Cottages are old and in tough shape. What is the fate of the three Berkshire Cottages so much a unique part of our South Berkshire landscape?
A note about density: Both the Lenox Great Estates bylaw and the Stockbridge Cottage Era bylaw address permitted density on these historic properties, and yet, with a population of 1825 permanent residents and 3000 with the seasonal residents, Stockbridge approved an addition of 247 units combined on the Elm Court and Desisto properties (13.5% of 1825 and 8.2% of 3000). In Lenox, with a larger population of about 5000, it adds roughly 150 units (3%). Municipal Planners tell us that an increase of 5% is the threshold of change in a community and 10% causes substantive change.
