Lenox Commons looks to add more units

LENOX – The Lenox Commons maybe be getting ready to grow.

Jim Scalise of SK Design Group in Pittsfield presented a preview of the plans he has drawn up to expand the residential offerings of the property to the planning board at its latest meeting.

The changes center on the addition of 12 more residential units that would be known as Lenox Commons South.

The units would be triplexes with each of the four new buildings housing four units.

“The first units have sold so well and we have lots of interest in new housing,” said Lenox Commons Owner David Ward.

The project originally had additional buildings like these in the plans, so approval would only require changes to the original permits and would not require new permits altogether.

The changes have also recently been shown to the conservation commission, as the owners plan to file the changes.

Signs still on the table

As the planning board continues to work through sign bylaw changes, local businessman Jim Nejaime, owner of Spirited, came before them to offer his advice and opinions.

One of Mr. Nejaime’s thoughts was about the current state of some signs. He explained many of the signs in the routes 7 and 20 corridor need to be replaced, but owners are afraid they may lose some of theirs grandfathered in size.

“With that in mind, if the new rules are too stringent, I fear that they will still be afraid and be forced to keep old, ugly signs,” said Mr. Nejaime. “And that helps no one and does not improve the look at all.”

Mr. Nejaime also explained he agrees sandwich board signs do not belong on busy streets like those in New Lenox and any bylaw should have different rules and options for each area of the town.

This is in-line with the current thoughts of the planning board as they have begun to craft their changes.

As members work on crafting the language, several members will be attending a training on signage put on by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission in the coming weeks.

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on January 10, 2013. Filed under Community News,Featured,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry