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Date: 1/17/2019
CHICOPEE – Residents from the Sheridan Street neighborhood near Chicopee Falls voiced their objections to the Planning Board about a proposed 96-room hotel that would be built on a site that overlooks their homes at a meeting on Jan. 10.
The Planning Board approved the preliminary plans, noting this was simply a first step and there would be additional public hearings and approvals in the future.
John Furman, managing director at the VHB engineering firms, represented the hoteliers Desai and Sons from West Springfield who want to build the hotel on a plot of land not far from the Bob Pion auto dealership on Memorial Drive. The preliminary plan had been filed five months ago, but was withdrawn after a site plan review produced a number of issues to be resolved, Michael Sarnelli, the chair of the board noted.
Furman said the building would be four stories in order to have 96 rooms on the site. He added there is currently no sewer or water service to the site that has never been developed before. Gas service and drainage would have to be added as well.
A “quick” traffic study that has been done would indicate the hotel would generate 32 entering and 30 exiting trips on each weekday and 42 entering and 33 existing trips on the weekends, Furman said.
The topography of the area is the proposed hotel would be built into the hill that looms over the neighborhood.
One resident said the additional traffic would be potentially hazardous and the water run-off would increase. Lights from the hotel would be glaring into the homes below it.
“I would propose scrapping the thing, denying based on the variable,” the resident said.
Theresa Sakott who lives on Jackson Street said presently the traffic makes getting out of her home “really a pain.”
She added, “This really worries me.”
She was also concerned about water run-off from the parking lot of the hotel down the hill to the neighbors below. Several members of the Planning Board said they believe the proposed drainage system would actually help improve run-off.
Resident Patricia Gajda also expressed her concerns about the impact the hotel would make on the neighborhood.