NEW SALEM — The future of the New Salem Museum and Academy of Fine Art appears uncertain after the state Land Court this week annulled the special permit the town’s Planning Board issued to the facility two years ago.

Husband and wife Vincent and Laura Barletta say they bought 37 South Main St. from Vincent’s mother roughly three years ago with hopes of displaying their art collection for the public’s enjoyment and hosting fee-based events. But some in town were concerned about environmental impacts, noise and alcohol use. A lawsuit was filed in early 2021 by abutters Steven and Jane Schoenberg, Peter and Sandra Fisher, Brian and Genevieve Casey, and Susan Arnold and Dorothy Johnson, who sued the Barlettas and the New Salem Planning Board. Johnson is still listed as a plaintiff but died last year.

Judge Jennifer S.D. Roberts ruled on Tuesday that she was annulling the special permit for the change of use from residential/agricultural to a museum and commercial events venue. She also invalidated a particular New Salem zoning bylaw section that she said violates the specificity state law requires, though the parking and lighting conditions imposed by the special permit are valid.

On Wednesday, Vincent Barletta said he was disappointed with the ruling but intends to continue fighting to open his art museum.

Attorney Michael Pill, who assisted Barbara Lauriat in representing the abutters, praised the Land Court’s decision and lambasted what he said is the Barlettas’ “flagrant disregard for the law.”

“This wasn’t a cultural endeavor,” Pill said of the museum.

Pill said he kept his attorney fees to a minimum because this cause was important to him. He also mentioned that Lauriat, who is the Caseys’ daughter, worked the case pro bono. He lauded Lauriat’s work, referring to the case as “Davida vs. Goliath,” a term he used as an adaptation of the well-known biblical story.

Sarah Kohler, who chairs the New Salem Planning Board, said she and her colleagues could not discuss the Land Court ruling at Wednesday night’s meeting because they did not receive the documents in time. She said it will be discussed at the next meeting, slated for February.

Part of the abutters’ concerns stem from the fact that Barletta’s company, Barletta Engineering/Heavy Division in Canton, has been accused of mishandling contaminants from job sites.

The Providence (R.I.) Journal reported in October that the construction company, hired by Rhode Island to rebuild the 6/10 connector, would have to pay $1.5 million in fines as part of a federal court case related to the use of contaminated soil and stone at the project site. Although Barletta was not charged with any crimes, his company agreed to pay a $500,000 fine and return $1 million to the state.

While providing the Greenfield Recorder with a walking tour of the three-floor facility in New Salem in September, Laura Barletta explained she expected a painting studio on the top floor to serve as the site of workshops conducted by the artists featured in the Barlettas’ collection.

The Barlettas started their art collection in 2005 when they visited New York City for an anniversary and purchased an original oil painting by Michael Klein, depicting Klein’s wife, Nelida. Klein, an award-winning realist, is the museum’s director and he and Nelida live upstairs as around-the-clock caretakers. Some of Klein’s work hangs on the museum’s walls.

Laura Barletta previously explained she and her husband collect contemporary realism artwork, which she said is a modern North American movement by artists who paint in the style of brilliant European painters. She said she has original works by Andrew Wyeth and John Singer Sargent she would like to display at 37 South Main St.

She also mentioned the building was once a dormitory and home economics education facility for New Salem Academy, which her husband’s grandmother attended as a student. After the school closed in 1969, Vincent Barletta’s father, who shared the same name as his son, bought the building for sentimental reasons and turned it into a single-family dwelling that was used infrequently.

Reach Domenic Poli at dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.

]]>