HADLEY — Conversion of the North Hadley Village Hall into a mixed-use building with five apartments and a construction company’s office and workspace, along with a new driveway, turnaround and parking area, can proceed.
The Zoning Board of Appeals at its July 28 meeting voted 3-0 to issue a variance to Rick and Michelle Bramucci that will allow the couple to redevelop the 239 River Drive building, constructed as a school in 1864 and, until sold by the town in March 2022, used in recent years as offices and activity space for the Park & Recreation Department, a branch library and a fire station.
Andrew Bombardier, who chairs the Zoning Board of Appeals, said at the meeting that conversations with the town’s law firm, Mead, Talerman & Costa, offered a more favorable interpretation of how variances can be issued by the board.
While traditionally variances have been based on the hardship of a property’s geographical features, this variance was based on how strict zoning enforcement would result in practical difficulties for the building owner. The board was also allowed to consider whether the housing would be a detriment to the neighborhood.
The use of a newer portion of the building, built in the 1950s, for Bramucci Construction, in a limited business zone, is allowed by right, but the variance was needed for the apartments, with town bylaws generally prohibiting multiple dwellings on a lot.
The board also received a letter of support from Select Board member Molly Keegan, who observed that the sale for $80,000 four years ago was based on an understanding that apartment-style housing would be included in the redevelopment.
Bombardier said he looked favorably at the benefits redevelopment would provide to Hadley, including providing housing consistent with town and state goals, bringing a mostly derelict building back to the tax rolls and saving a historic structure.
The variance approval means site plans can go to the Planning Board for review.
The vote came after an initial hearing June 9, when residents who live in North Hadley said the plans were too intense a use for the property, though Rick Bramucci said he intends to have high-end apartments and wouldn’t be turning the site into what critics call a “student stuffer.”
Still, Ed Koehler of 236 River Drive said the Select Board originally turned down the sale of the building to an Amherst developer who was going to put in luxury apartments. Koehler said the only apartment buildings allowed in town zoning are for people 55 and over.
Ginger Goldsbury of 245 River Drive said that she preferred a proposal by a different Hadley developer for a more limited number of apartments that would have been situated above a community center and concert hall.
“Five condos is more than legal, that means 10 more cars in the area, which is crazy,” Goldsbury said.
She also is disappointed at the possible loss of the greenspace, between the building and the North Hadley Congregational Church and alongside Lake Warner, where generations of children have played. “It’s the only greenspace in the whole area,” Goldsbury said.
But Bombardier disputed that the project would diminish the area, noting that apartments collectively known as the Beehive are across the street, and other rental properties are close by.
“The character of that neighborhood is there are a lot of apartments there,” Bombardier said.
Residents are also protected by a deed restriction requiring preservation of the greenspace, which had been a baseball diamond and backstop, and a playground with swing sets. The grass being lost to the driveway, turnaround and parking lot is considered a tiny fraction of the lot, Bombardier said.
The others on the panel, voting member Iris Tang and Jason Bohonowicz, an associate and alternate voting member, agreed with this assessment.
Bohonowicz said he appreciates what the Bramuccis are doing to renovate and restore the building.
Town Meeting in October 2014 first authorized the town to sell the property, and while apartments were proposed by various bidders over the years, developers were limited for how the full property could be used. That changed when the state Legislature, at the request of Town Meeting in November 2019, lifted a so-called Article 97 protection under the state Constitution on the ballfield.
