With Planning Board Support, Inn at Hastings Park Heads to BOS
The Board of Selectmen's consideration of a Memorandum of Understanding this Thursday could be the last step before Town Meeting takes up a proposal to redevelop the Dana Home as a hotel and restaurant.
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Monday night was a step in the right direction for Trisha Perez Keneally, the Lexington resident looking to redevelop the Dana Home as an upscale hotel and restaurant concept known as The Inn at Hastings Park.
By at 3 to 1 vote with one board member not present for the vote, Kennealy’s concept earned a measure of support from the Planning Board, which recommended approval of a Preliminary Site Development and Use Plan, conditioned upon the execution of an acceptable Memorandum of Understanding with the Board of Selectmen.
To read the Planning Board’s full report, check out the PDF posted to your right.
The MOU is on the the Board of Selectmen’s agenda for tomorrow evening, a meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Cary Hall.
“We’re very pleased that the Planning Board voted to recommend the project,” Perez Kennealy told Patch on Tuesday. “As someone who is a citizen of this community, I am in awe of the people who volunteer to serve on our boards. It is a lot of work and they take their responsibility very seriously. We’re grateful for all of they time they put in.”
Perez Kennealy also noted receiving an Order of Conditions from the Conservation Commission recently as she commended town boards for putting in long hours and coming to understand the project in terms of what her team is “trying to do on the site,” and how their business plan fits in.
Originally given a date certain of April 30, Article 34 is now slated to hit Town Meeting floor next Wednesday, May 9. Perez Kennealy on Tuesday said she expects Thursday’s selectmen’s meeting will be the last step before then.
In the meantime, those curious about the project can check out The Inn at Hastings Park’s website, where the development team has been actively posting video insights into the project plans.
According to Perez Kennealy, this kind of engagement will continue throughout the project’s progress, and would likely increase as the hotel and restaurant business comes online.
“I want people to feel a part of it,” she said, “And I think the best way to tell the story about the Dana Home property and what we’re doing going forward is for them to be able to see it.”
Article 34 seeks to rezone the Dana Home and an adjacent parcel to allow for commercial redevelopment within a neighborhood that's currently zoned for residential use. There has been some opposition to Perez Kennealy's proposal, based on the size and scope of the project, along with some concerns about traffic and the impact on wetlands.
Phil Hurd
7:39 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
If this article was meant to be an editorial, then fine. But if you were striving for an objective news post, you left out a very mportant fact, which is that the one "NO" vote is a pretty important one, because it was from the Chairman of the Planning Board, who said that, while he supports the concept of an Inn, he feels the current plan is far too intense for the lot it's proposed for, and that there are a number of unresolved issues in the current plan that would impact parking, safety, etc.
Steven Iverson
2:28 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
To me, it reads like a balanced article, not an editorial. It may not have included every fact, but few stories do.
Dennis O'Donnell
9:17 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Just curious, does a Chairman get extra votes or does his one vote carry more power than the others? I think the process in place is sound, there are a lot of smart and concerned citizens keeping an oversight on this, and if the Town Meeting doesn't like the plan, then so be it. There are a lot of if...thens in the proposal, and if the owner can satisfy all those conditions, then it seems that this would be a nice addition to the town.
Cindy C.
6:04 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012
It seems like many of the most vocal proponents of The Inn are folks who do not live anywhere near the inn and so they really do not have that much at stake in terms of the project impacting their day to day quality of life. It also seems like many of the most vocal opponents live close to The Dana Home and feel it could possibly impact their day to day living.
It was also interesting to me that this past Thursday's Minuteman included a letter from a woman who strongly supported the project; what she/the Minuteman left out was she lives on the same street as the Kennealys. Mrs. Kennealy does a lot of volunteering and it seems to me that she will probably succeed in getting this project through because she is one of the most goal oriented, focused people we have met in this town. She can cash in her chits to see it through. My two cents.