The Pittsfield Zoning Board of Appeals has denied a variance for a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant at the site of a shuttered church.Board members on Wednesday unanimously shot down a measure to extend a business zone 50 feet to allow the developer Cafuato build a drive-thru restaurant on the campus of St. Mary the Morning Star Church. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield owns the site. Darcie Sosa is with the group Friends of St. Mary’s, which is working to save the roughly 75-year-old church.
“The fact that they don’t think that it’s appropriate to change the zoning and maybe not allow a restaurant with a drive-thru at that specific site might then open the diocese to alternative developers and alternative redevelopment of that plot.”
Board members argue the project does not meet Pittsfield’s economic revitalization goals.