By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Berlin Planning Commission supports the adoption of Worcester County’s design guidelines and standards as an interim solution until a planning director is hired.

The commission has agreed to amend the Worcester County design guidelines, tweaking them to fit the historic town so that commercial developers may have a set of parameters to refer to when designing new structures and amenities. The municipality has lacked any definitive regulations, which has created conflict, such as in the case of the controversial Microtel Inn and Suites by Wyndham. To revise the code for Berlin, commissioners met to remove mentions of the words “must” or “shall’ from the Worcester document or change the phrases to “should” to avoid pinning hard and fast rules on builders.

Berlin Planning Commission Chair Matthew Stoehr noted at the group’s meeting last week that he met with the town’s historic district commission earlier this month to discuss their “game plan” for pushing forward the Worcester County Design Guidelines and Standards.

“They [HDC members] were unanimously happy,” he said. “They understand that it is basically a stop-gap and that when we get a planning director and a proper staff … it will get more into the nuts and bolts.”

Town Administrator Mary Bohlen said the historic group had “no real changes” to add to the proposed document. The Berlin Mayor and Council will further review the guidelines at the governing group’s next meeting on Nov. 25 at 6 p.m.

The county guidelines will act as a quick fix for the town. Currently, Berlin lacks standards for commercial developers to follow when designing a new space. Like in the case of Microtel Inn and Suites by Wyndham and the Wawa at the corner of Route 50 and N. Main Street, this has led to drawn-out discussions and conflict over a structure’s elevations.

Microtel developers approached the Berlin Planning Commission in March intending to construct a hotel off Route 113 near Franklin Avenue. The commission criticized the design for lacking the historic charm found in the municipality’s downtown area. The developers fought back, arguing that they could not create a structure with everything the group desired if no guidelines were laid out to follow.

Despite the addition of Victorian lamp posts, cornices, and mature trees, commissioners at a July 10 meeting said the hotel failed to match Berlin’s aesthetics. The developers expressed their frustration at the advisory group’s dismay.

“We all understand what you are trying to achieve. The problem is the manner in which you are trying to achieve it,” Mark Cropper, hotel building applicant Thomas Zambetis’s attorney, said to the commission at the summer presentation. “At some point, if a developer does A, B, C & D, a developer is entitled to site plan approval … We are trying to be responsive and cooperative, but it’s a two-way street. … We are told to return with something different, but there’s no guidance or details to go by. We are trying to get there, but this is a hard arena to work in when there’s nothing to work through.”

Despite the improved collaboration between the two parties, paving the way for the elevations to be approved at the commission’s Wednesday, Nov. 13 meeting, adopting Worcester County’s design code will work to prevent similar problems from forming in the future.

The county standards will be temporary. Once a planning director is hired to fill the role left by former position-holder Dave Engelhart, who tragically passed in April, a Berlin-specific code will be drafted and adopted to address issues highlighted by the Microtel situation. Still, Stoehr said this could be awhile, even once a new director is secured, as the individual will have much to work through.

“When that planning director comes on board, I bet it is six months to a year before they can even look at these guidelines,” the commission chair said. “They are going to be inundated. We need to temper our expectations. This stopgap is going to last a lot longer than anticipated, and understandably so. There is going to be a lot of catchup.”

The municipality is still actively looking for a planning director. Since the role was left vacant, Rick Baldwin has acted as a consultant to the town. In July, a moratorium was implemented to halt certain actions of the planning commission, including final site plan approval, rezoning, and annexation, so as not to overburden staff.