WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Conservation Commission last week approved plans for a proposed hotel at 562 Main St.

 

The commission held a public hearing on the notice of intent from local hotelier Vipul "Vinny" Patel, who is seeking town approval for a three-story, 77-room hotel at the site commonly known as the Lehovec Property.

 

After hearing engineer Charlie LaBatt of Guntlow & Associates explain the proposal's plan for handling stormwater on the site, the Con Comm issued its permit with a number of special orders of conditions.

 

The scene now shifts back to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which recently continued a public hearing on Patel's request for special permits to allow the business on the site. The ZBA is scheduled to resume that hearing on May 18.

 

The ZBA earlier this year approved special permits for a different hotel proposal, at 430 Main St.

 

The special permits are good for one year. Development can occur under the Con Comm's orders of conditions in a three-year window before the applicant would need to come back to that commission.

 

LaBatt told the commission that stormwater runoff at the site will be treated by three rain gardens that are designed to have more capacity than is required under the law.

 

He also told the commission that the applicant made two changes to the plan in response to concerns raised at the initial ZBA hearing: moving the Dumpster closer to the building and planning for taller, 12-foot conifers as part of the vegetative screening for the Colonial Village neighborhood to the east of the 562 Main St. site.

 

Some of those neighbors again were on hand at the Con Comm with questions about the plan and what assurances the town has that it will be followed.

 

"Several times in this discussion, you referred to things Mr. Patel would be required to do, but at the Zoning Board, it was clear he would turn [the property] over to one of the flagship hotels," Robert Kavanaugh of Colonial Avenue said. "Will the orders apply to whatever hotel is selected, and who will enforce that?"

 

Con Comm chairman Henry Art assured Kavanaugh that the orders are binding on whatever development occurs on the property and that Community Development Director Andrew Groff, wearing his hat as the town's conservation agent, would be responsible for enforcing elements of the plan approved at the commission level.

 

"A lot of what we respond to is the public reporting things that don't look right," Art said. "Good neighbors reporting to Town Hall … enables us to go out, and generally within a few hours someone is on the site."

 

Cory Campbell of Orchard Lane asked if there was a percentage of mortality required for the vegetation in the planned rain garden on the site.

 

Art explained that the orders of condition issued by the Con Comm require compliance within three years, at which time, the town inspects developments to make sure the conditions have been met.

 

"At that point, if the rain garden is not well established, we'd advise a partial certificate of compliance until this condition is met," Art said.

 

Campbell also asked about whether the development is appropriate in the 100-year flood zone. LaBatt answered that the section of flood plain at the Lehovec property slopes down into the Green River, unlike the part of town hardest hit by the flooding associated with Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.

 

"Unfortunately for the Spruces, they're at the bottom of the slope," LaBatt said, referring to the now closed mobile home park. "It should be much less catastrophic [at 562 Main St.] when you compare it to something like what they went through."

 

Art reported to the commission that the commonwealth's Department of Environmental Protection had reviewed Patel's application and returned it with no comment. LaBatt said that was because the developer had preliminary conversations with the state authority before submitting the plan.

 

The Con Comm approved a couple of special conditions in addition to its standard orders. It required language specifying that the property's operation and maintenance plan be adhered to in perpetuity and that language in that plan be changed from saying that parking lot sweeping is "recommended at least 2 times per year" to mandating it is "required at least two times per year."