Planning Board Weighs Striking 45-Room Hotel Cap
Planning Board · Meeting of September 10, 2026
Great Barrington Planning Board leans toward scrapping its 45-room hotel cap. Vice Chair Pedro Rafael Pachano argued zoning section 7.10.2's cap "deals a bad card" to tourism, the town's top economic driver, while Clerk Jonathan Hankin countered the rule has effectively kept national chains out since town meeting adopted it. Clerk Hankin's research showed existing local hotels top out at the 93-room Fairfield Inn, versus roughly 90-room, 58,000-to-65,000-square-foot hotels recently built in Lenox.
No vote was taken; the board's working plan is to strike the cap and lean on the special permit process, with public and hotelier outreach planned around an October 8 hearing. Resident James Garzone, of 84 Northland Road, backed removing the cap but said enforcement of existing town regulations "lacks across the entire town."
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,796 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of September 10, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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