SOUTHWICK — The Southampton couple who proposed building a nearly 60,000-square-foot self-storage facility on College Highway has withdrawn its request for a special permit from the Planning Board essentially putting the project on ice for the foreseeable future.
“On behalf of Jim Boyle of Premier Self Storage, LLC, regarding the application for [a] Special permit for a self-storage facility at 662A College Highway, Berkshire Design Group respectfully requests that the application for the Special Permit be withdrawn without prejudice,” wrote the Northampton-based design group to the Planning Board on Feb. 5.
Nearly two years ago, Jim and Ellen Boyles approached the board about building a 59,000-square-foot facility that would look like a tobacco barn between the between O’Reilly’s Auto Parts and the future location of Pioneer Valley Trading Co.’s proposed recreational cannabis dispensary.
The Boyles’ proposal was to build a two-story facility using as an “over/under concept” that would be fully sprinklered, meet all applicable building codes, and will have video surveillance cameras installed that cover every square inch of the facility operating 24 hours a day, according to William VonFricken, a project manager for the New York-based Frank G. Felf Architect firm, who designed the self-storage facility.
As part of the special permit process, the board opens a public hearing on the proposal until a final decision is made and IT can be continued for months, or even years, which has been the case with the Boyles’ request.
The Boyles and their representatives haven’t appeared before the board since February 2024.
During that hearing, board members and the Fire Department Chief Richard Stefanowicz had serious reservations about the proposal.
“This is a bad plan. You’re trying to build a massive building on every square inch of buildable property … and it compromises public safety,” Stefanowicz said.
To address the many concerns of the board, the Boyles met with Town Planner Jon Goddard and board member Jessica Ann Thornton to reach some type of compromise several months ago.
“He came in with a building that was fundamentally different in scale … to manage some of our concerns,” Goddard said of Jim Boyles’ new proposal.
“It was much smaller all around to answer questions and safety and circulation,” Goddard said.
However, with the reduction in scale, the Boyles determined the “economics weren’t adding up,” he said.
To make them work, the Boyles proposed changing the use of the self-storage facility to include renting out storage units to contractors.
According to town zoning bylaws, that is a significant change in the facility’s use and requires requesting a new special permit.
Goddard said that at the time that it may appear “really simple” that the two uses might fall under the same “umbrella” of the town’s zoning bylaws, but the town bylaws “spells it out very clearly these are separate uses,” he said, adding the Boyles were not enthusiastic when hearing they needed to reapply.
“It’s fair to say the applicant leaned into the philosophy that these two activities are compatible,” Goddard said.
During the board’s meeting on Feb. 4, the Boyles had once again requested a continuance of the public hearing on its original special request permit.
Thornton, who was elected as chair after former board member Michael Doherty announced in January he was resigning effective immediately, instructed Goddard to let the Boyles know it would only grant one more continuance of the public hearing.
The Boyles withdrew the request the next day.
Goddard said the Boyles had made extensive changes to the original design and since it needed to reapply for a new special permit anyway, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if they did.
The Boyles purchased the 3.17-acre property at 662A College Highway in December 2022 for $175,000.
An attempt to speak with the Boyles was unsuccessful by press time.
