Like an ever-growing number of communities across the country, the picturesque town of Lenox, Massachusetts is facing surburban developers who will change the character of the Berkshires. Centrally located in the tourist-driven Berkshires, home of Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow and other outstanding dance and music centers, the town of Lenox is attractive picking for developers from New York state and eastern Massachusetts. But a group of county residents has formed a citizen’s group, called “Community Berkshire”, to push back on sprawl. The group’s first act was to file for a zoning amendment in Lenox that would cap the sixe of retail businesses at 35,000 s.f. — which is just over 3/4ths of an acre. Even this sixe building is out of scale with the rest of the built environment in the Berkshires. Wal-Mart already has a store in the county, and Home Depot is looking for sites in at least two towns. Community Berkshire submitted its zoning cap plan yesterday, but the bylaw change might not come before voters until next May. The town’s Master Plan says that sprawl and a “consumptive pattern of land development” remains a significant problem for the Berkshirs.
See the next newsflash for the story of another town that is looking to enact a cap on size. For more background on Lenox, or contacts, email [email protected]
