The Heights Hotel Part IV - Is the Wait Over?
A QUICK RECAP on the "Hotel Lexington" project. The last real news goes way back to July 22 when residents gathered in the Lyons Room to hear the proposal and provide their concerns. The developer left with a long list of potential problems and zoning issues to resolve. The Redevelopment Board was left with the thorny legal issue of waiving both special permit fees and future inspection fees. Some of these fees are set down in our bylaws by Town Meeting but were somehow negotiated away by the Town Manager and the Planning Department. Tomorrow's hearing will address the fairly modest $5400 special permit fee but leave unaddressed the substantial inspection fees which could easily top $100,000.
After six months of cancelled hearings, the developer is back with a revised plan. Most of the newly submitted material is about parking and traffic. There will be no self-parking spots provided for either hotel guests or restaurant patrons. All parking will be by valet. The hotel is being pushed back about 12 feet to accommodate a small semi-circular driveway in front for pickup and drop-off. This extra setback is a big improvement when viewed from the Mass Ave. Not so good for the folks who live on Peirce St. The back of the hotel will now be 12 feet closer to your backyards.
The traffic study makes interesting reading. For the before and after traffic estimates, the long abandoned Disabled American Veterans club is modeled as a high turnover sit down restaurant and is being counted for current traffic volume. Apparently six years ago it had a small kitchen in the back.
Environmentalists may be alarmed to discover that landscaped open space now means pervious brick rather than plantings.
What is remarkable about the materials submitted for Monday’s hearing is not what is there but what is missing. Several serious zoning problems were raised at the July hearing but the applicant has chosen to completely ignore them, perhaps hoping that they will be forgotten. Nothing has been done on the Clark St setback requirement. The planned upper story stepback continues to be a floor too high. And there still isn’t a single square foot of the required usable open space. The developer continues to ask for an exemption from the floor area ratio requirements even though the bylaw explicitly denies the Board the authority to make such an exception for this size property.
The hearing is scheduled for Monday, January 27 in the Senior Center. Hopefully the organizers have learned from last time and will arrange for microphones so that the public can hear what is being presented. It would also be nice to have a projector and screen instead of flip charts so that we can actually see the drawings being discussed.
