Since 2004, the DeSisto School building, a decrepit mansion looming over a 300 plus-acre campus, has sat in silence on Interlaken Road. The boarding school shuttered amid allegations of child abuse from the commonwealth, declining enrollment, and licensing issues.
Developer Patrick Sheehan purchased the property for around $1.35 million in 2009, and has spent almost a decade trying to convince Stockbridge to let him do something with it.
While the final select board approval came on May 15th, much of the debate around the project came at a meeting two days earlier. Officials addressed questions around how the development would fit into town laws aimed at preserving the character of Stockbridge, an affluent community known for its stately mansions.
“One of the open issues in the hearing has been the proper application of section 6.6.3D of the Cottage Era Estate Zoning Bylaw, and the question at hand has what has been whether or not the last sentence of the section which limits the gross floor area of new additions or new buildings to the gross floor area to no more than the gross floor area of the existing principal structure," said Town Counsel Christopher Heep. “The question has been whether that last sentence in that section applies to all Cottage Era Estate applications in town, or only to those that are included in the R4 district, or only those that are included in the R4 district that seek a waiver of the maximum height limit.”
Heep admitted that the bylaw, as written, is ambiguous enough for both opponents and supporters of the project to offer different interpretations of it.
“Where we have landed is that the best application or interpretation of 6.6.3D is, in our opinion, that the limit on gross floor area applies to all Cottage Era Estate projects, not merely those that are in the R4 district," he explained. "So that that section, we think would be applicable to this particular project and the buildings they're proposing to construct.”
Sheehan’s vision for the former DeSisto School calls for 23 single-family homes, six hotel suites, over 130 hotel rooms, and a parking lot with over 560 spaces.
Some town residents – including neighbors concerned about the impact of the vast new development – spoke out against the plan.
“You cannot make a prudent or fully informed decision about these complex issues when you hear testimony only from the applicant. You owe it to us whose drinking water is at risk to hear the other side of the story from qualified experts before you permit this project. The entire town of Stockbridge sits on a karst. You should ask to hear testimony from a karst hydrologist before any stormwater permitting is allowed," said town board of health chair Dr. Charles Kenny, addressing the body as a private citizen. “The safe maximum yield study directed by DEP is not just a safe maximum yield study. DEP is also requiring isotope analysis and thermal imaging to assess the impact of groundwater on the reservoir. You should wait for this groundwater study to be completed before you permit this project.”
Other residents like Jennifer Carmichael said she welcomes the tax revenues of the project – projected to be in the millions once fully built out – and said Sheehan had been responsive to the town’s concerns.
“It will preserve the 130-year-old cottage era mansion," she said. "It may only be the facade, but it still will carry much of the history for Stockbridge. It will create much needed housing opportunities. It leaves large areas of open space and agriculture for farm-to-table opportunities on the property, and I just feel we owe it to the residents of Stockbridge to approve Mr. Sheehan's application.”
Town leadership has added more than 30 stipulations to the special permit required for the undertaking. They range from a conservation restriction on over 200 acres of the property, a restriction not to exceed the current height of the mansion, and a $575,000 donation to the town’s Affordable Housing Trust.
“This is a very tough decision. It's an emotional decision for the abutters and stuff, but we do have a bylaw that we have to follow. It gives us leeway and quite a few things," said select board member Ernest Cardillo. “This bylaw has been voted on by the town as a whole to save these mansions. I mean, I don’t know if I agree with the bylaw or not, but we have it, and that's what to follow. The applicant has made multiple concessions to fit what we've been asking for. I've been in construction since I was 18, I won’t tell you how old I am now, and I don't ever have believe I ever seen a such a compromise and a dialog and a back-and-forth agreement on a project.”
The board voted unanimously to back the project at its meeting Thursday.
Audio is provided by Community Television of the Southern Berkshires.
