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Date: 12/15/2021
EASTHAMPTON – Discussions on two permit items for Fort Hill Brewery will continue into the next Planning Board meeting on Jan. 18.
On Dec. 7, the Easthampton Planning Board conducted a meeting with Northampton Attorney Peter Lane, the representative of Fort Hill owner Eric Berzins, to discuss two agenda items continued from the Oct. 19 Planning Board meeting. In one item, Fort Hill is seeking a special permit to install parking, storage and recreational uses. The other item seeks to amend a special permit from 2017 to expand operations at Fort Hill.
Back in October, Lane and Fort Hill submitted an overview to the Planning Board detailing a special permit application that involves an adjacent eight acres of land on Birch Family Farm that would be used for the additional parking and storage. The farm itself also applied for permits for recreational use only for the owners. These include an expanded bike track, an adjacent enclosure for a bike rack, and a fenced-in area for Berzins’ dog while he runs operations at the brewery.
During a Planning Board meeting in October, Lane was asked to follow up at the Dec. 7 meeting with plans, studies, calculations, and proposals on various matters, which include lighting plans for all parking areas, snow removal plan, revised storm water calculations, traffic flow count, special events planning, updated plans showing further delineation of recreation areas from brewery uses on the farm parcel and noise mitigation proposals for live music.
In a letter to the Planning Board on Dec. 5, Lane said that the main engineer and surveyor needed an additional 30 days to address the first six items that the Planning Board asked for.
The Planning Board and the public did, however, talk about possibilities for outdoor sound mitigation after myriad complaints from abutters and owners of other parcels beyond that were addressed through letters and public speak-outs during the past couple of meetings.
“It’s quite clear that this is a continuing concern and probably the most pressing concern for neighbors and abutters,” said Lane, regarding noise mitigation. “The brewery is sensitive to that and would like to present a plan to address these concerns.”
According to Lane, the most significant change would be to reorient the sound when having outdoor live music. This would possibly include placing performers in a spot where their backs are facing the trees that separate abutters’ properties. The sound monitors would then be pointing back at the north wall of the brewery. The brewery also plans on growing a dense section of arborvitaes to assist with sound blockage on the north side of the brewery, as well.
“Beyond that, the brewery is now proposing to construct a stage and a sound shed,” said Lane, adding that it will be easier once they have the full plans laid out for the next meeting. “This way, sound is enclosed, and it’s being aimed directly at the wall of the brewery.” These plans will be depicted with the other plans that have to be prepared for the Jan. 18 meeting. There were multiple requests involving the use of a professional sound engineer when these changes are being made.
According to Planning Board member Daniel Hartman, there is no quantitative measure within the Easthampton ordinances that dictates how loud music can be; there are just qualitative measures. At the state level, however, the Department for the Environmental Protection has another set of laws.
“The state just requires you to be under 10 decibels above ambient,” said Hartman. Basically, this means a noise level study is done during a time where there are no obstacles to the noise. The brewery will have to figure out how to approach a study pertinent to the brewery and address other causes of noise at the brewery.
These two permit items come after the brewery received three separate enforcement orders over the course of three years due to a violation of the 2017 special permit. The most recent order was back in May. Lane said he will submit the plans to the board by Jan. 4.