EASTHAMPTON — The developer proposing a multimillion dollar housing and retail complex at the former Tasty Top site on Route 10 has secured an agreement to purchase two lots opposite of the proposed project, as part of an effort to create a four-way intersection to control an expected increase in traffic.

Though the proposal is being met with some criticism by property owners, environmental advocates and other residents, the Planning Board is preparing to take final steps in reviewing and eventually taking a vote on the proposed development.

First proposed in November 2022, the $26 to $30 million Sierra Vista Commons complex calls for an approximately 9,000-square-foot Roots Learning Center, a 7,000-square-foot Roots Gymnastics Center, two sit-down restaurants, three mixed-use retail/office buildings with apartments above, and two 13,600-square-foot mixed-use warehouse buildings.

The 33-acre development at 93-97 Northampton St. also calls for 188 apartments, 54 of which would be designated as affordable and spread across nine 18-unit buildings in addition to two of the mixed-use buildings.

At a Planning Board meeting on Tuesday night, which drew more than 40 attendees both in-person and remote, much of the discussion centered on a new proposed intersection layout after developer Frank A. DeMarinis purchased the lots at 1 Groveland Street and 94 Northampton Street.

“By obtaining ownership of these properties, the applicant has the ability to construct the proposed driveway configuration without altering land owned by other parties,” Bryan Balicki, P.E. Project Engineer at Furrow Engineering, wrote in a letter to City Planner Jeffrey Bagg on Sept. 13.

The proposed layout would shift the driveway entrance to Sierra Vista north by around 65 feet, and would shift Mountainview Street to the south by 30 feet. In effect, the driveways would align opposite one another in a four-way intersection.

According to Balicki, traffic at existing businesses across the street, Cernak Fuel and Fyre Ants cannabis dispensary, would not be impacted, and property owners with current access rights across Mountainview Street would keep those rights.

Attorney Elizabeth Goodman, on behalf of those property owners, raised concerns with the plan, however.

“Yes, someone who owns a right-of-way over their property can relocate it, but they have to ask the abutting property if it has an effect,” said Goodman. “We believe this will have an adverse effect on access, both for the Fyre Ants business and for 100 and 102 [Northampton Street].”

Goodman suggested that DeMarinis look into a rotary, rather than four-way intersection, to provide better access for abutters.

However, the Planning Board’s peer reviewer, Stantec Consulting Services, along with other engineering parties agreed during past meetings that a four-way intersection was the best case from a traffic and safety standpoint.

Richard Bryant, Senior Associate at Stantec, said that the most recent plan proposed by the developer poses some operational, traffic and safety problems due to the small size of the left turn lane size. Bryant encouraged the applicant and traffic engineers to continue working together to modify the plan further.

“The process would be beneficial to all parties and help prevent future disruptions in the project permitting process,” Bryant wrote in a letter responding to the site access plan on Sept. 15.

Engineering representatives on behalf of the developer suggested that details be worked out with the state’s transportation department, to which Planning Board Chairman Jesse Belcher-Timme responded, “We’re getting close, but we’re not there, and I think we’re still trying to find the best proposal to make so that we can put that in the decision, and then MassDOT will hopefully find a way to make that work or not.”

“I don’t think we want to just pass the buck to MassDOT on any of this,” Belcher-Timme added.

Environmental concerns

From an environmental standpoint, Marty Klein — an organizer of the Easthampton Deserves Better Coalition which formed in response to the Tasty Top development — expressed concerns with loss of farmland, extensive lawns, and inefficient use of space.

“The easiest way to reduce the environmental impact of this project is to reduce its size,” Klein said.

Belcher-Timme said that “some of these environmental concerns are in the bylaws that we have to consider … So for example, we have to state that they’ve made efforts to minimize the removal of trees on a site.”

Another attendee at the meeting, Development and Industrial Commission member Thomas Brown, had a more positive outlook on the development.

“I still believe in my heart of hearts that at the end of the day, this project is good for Easthampton,” Brown said. “I’m not worried about the environment from the standpoint of [DeMarinis] is going to be put through the wringer … with the Conservation Commission. He’s got to be put through the wringer with the Planning Board.”

“Every permitting agency in the city has a crack at this to make sure it conforms with what the city wants,” Brown said.

Next steps

Under the city’s zoning ordinances, a large number of requirements must be met in order for the Planning Board to approve a project.

According to City Planner Bagg, the board typically reviews relevant public comments and factual information submitted to date, and then makes a “finding” on whether or not ordinance criteria is met, in addition to discussing whether certain conditions on the permit can mitigate potential impacts.

In advance of the next meeting on Oct. 17, Bagg will compile information and conditions in order for board members to begin conducting that review.

“I think we’re sort of at that point where we’re gonna have to start making decisions one way or the other,” said Belcher-Timme. “If not at the next meeting, in the next few meetings we’ll start to hammer that stuff out, because I don’t think there’s anything else that we’re waiting for that we haven’t already talked about the applicant providing.”

“Once that process is done, they’d likely vote,” Bagg wrote in an email. “It’s hard to tell whether that will happen on 10/17.”

If the board votes to approve the project, next steps for the developer include obtaining approval from the Conservation Commission and working with MassDOT and the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office (MEPA).

Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com.]]>