By Glenn Drohan
Berkshire Eagle Staff - April 04, 2000
ADAMS, MA -- The proposed Greylock Center resort got a huge boost yesterday when state Secretary of Environmental
Affairs Robert Durand approved the $119 million project's final environmental impact report.
"We're generally very, very pleased that it's been approved and that process is behind us," Town Administrator
James J. Leitch said. "It's taken 15 years to get here, and we're very, very happy."
Leitch credited Durand for "a lengthy but constructive process" and "conditions that make a lot
of sense not only for the project but for the adjoining Mount Greylock Reservation."
As part of his certificate, which completed the project's review under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act
(MEPA), Durand required that the state annex at least 300 acres of the 1,063-acre Greylock Glen to the 12,000-acre
reservation. The land would be in the westernmost portion of the Glen, where the terrain is steepest and where
cross country ski and hiking trails are expected to link with existing reservation trails.
Durand also required that final plans for the project's 18-hole golf course spell out specifically what pesticides
and fertilizers will be used and that the course limit the use of water to lessen impact on the town's water supply.
He also specified that rustic cabins and a camping area be built in Phase One of the project to ensure public access
to the site.
Leitch and Christopher Fleming, managing partner of Greylock Management Associates of Boston, the state's private
partner in the Glen development, predicted that groundbreaking on a $5 million environmental education center and
infrastructure for the 51-acre "village center" could begin late this summer, after approval of a master
lease agreement between the state Department of Environmental Management and Greylock Management.
The environmental center will be built and run by Nature's Classroom of Charlton. Up to 50 housing units and a
40-room inn are proposed for the village center in Phase One, with 250 more houses and a 162-room conference center
planned for Phase Two, which has no specific timetable.
Environmentalists unhappy
While town officials were jubilant over Durand's approval of the environmental impact report, environmentalists
who have fought the project said they were disappointed but have yet to give up hope.
George S. Wislocki, president of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, said his organization and others will
continue their fight during the local permitting process and may eventually pursue a lawsuit against the DEM, depending
on what happens with the master lease. Wislocki and other environmentalists oppose both the housing and the golf
course at the Greylock Center.
Wislocki said he had hoped Durand would require a supplemental report on the project but believed the secretary
was under great pressure from Lt. Gov. Jane M. Swift and DEM Commissioner Peter C. Webber to deliver the long-promised
Glen project to Adams.
"It is of great sadness to me that the secretary signed the certificate, but plainly the lieutenant governor
wants this to move forward and so does Commissioner Webber," Wislocki said. "It's really too bad, because
this project cries for thought. As it stands today, it appears to be a large and very hapless proposal that won't
work."
Leitch said he thought Wislocki should be very pleased with Durand's decision.
"I can remember the days when George Wislocki wanted a couple-hundred-foot buffer between the project and
the reservation," Leitch said. "Now, not only do you have a buffer but are likely to have hundreds of
acres annexed to the reservation. I would think that would be a success story he would want to share in."
The DEM also revealed yesterday that the city of North Adams and the town of Adams are seeking conservation restrictions
on up to 1,800 acres in their fire districts' watersheds, which abut Mount Greylock Reservation.
Durand's certificate makes no mention at all of so-called "funding gaps" of $3 million or more in Phase
One and $15 million in Phase Two, despite his own previous requirement that the project must demonstrate "fiscal
feasibility." The DEM is investing $6.5 million in the development, more than $2 million of which has already
been spent.
DEM Deputy Commissioner Martin Suuberg said all questions about financing will be answered by the master lease
and land disposition agreement, which the state hopes to complete by mid May. A 60-day public comment period will
follow before any construction can begin on the Greylock Center.
"Obviously in terms of who pays for what and who owns what, that is what the master lease is going to tell
us," Suuberg said.
Both he and Wislocki noted that the last development proposal for the Glen, the Heritage Greylock project, which
included 850 housing units, also received approval of its environmental impact report but died three years later
after the developer and the state could not reach a master lease agreement.
"There's still a lot of work to do," Suuberg said.
Other requirements of Durand's MEPA certificate are as follows:
* The DEM should reduce the width of trails to the maximum extent feasible to protect wetlands and stream crossings.
* The DEM must ensure the enforcement of environmental commitments on the part of individual homeowners, either
through a stewardship plan, provisions of the master lease or deed restrictions.
* The DEM must make "sustainability" or "green building technologies" a guiding principle of
the project, including the use of energy conservation and renewable energy sources, water conservation and reuse
and support for recycling.
* The DEM must provide more detailed information to determine whether a proposed bridge over Peck's Brook can meet
performance standards under the Wetlands Protection Act.
On the latter point, Durand noted that the state Department of Environmental Protection has indicated those standards
could be met.
© 2000 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and New England Newspapers, Inc