Lee Planning Board Continues Marriott Hotel Hearing, Demands Full Technical Responses from Applicant

LENOX -- June 22, 2026, Lee Planning Board opened a special permit hearing for a proposed four-story Fairfield by Marriott hotel at 165 Housatonic Street, the site of the Pilgrim Inn, and continued it to July 13 after an extensive first session. Attorney Jeff Lynch, representing applicant Ibrahim Zia, presented plans to demolish the existing 24-room motel and construct a new 74- or 75-room hotel with 83 parking spaces on a split-zone lot straddling the CBC Commercial Business District and R20 residential zone. Board member Conrad Decker read four pages of written questions on stormwater engineering, parking aisle dimensions, driveway geometry, lighting, signage, staffing levels, and traffic, noting a projected net increase of roughly 414 daily vehicle trips on Housatonic Street, which currently carries 13,571 vehicles per day. Board member Peter invoked the CBC zone's purpose language calling for "an attractive and desirable entrance" that "preserves the existing historical architectural character of the corridor" and asked whether the applicant would consider design modifications to reflect Lee's built character, while a public commenter identified what she said was a 2,000-gallon-per-day error in the application's sewer flow figures. The board also asked the applicant to fly balloons at the building's four corners at the proposed 50-foot height before the next session.