WHATELY — With site plan approval from the Planning Board, the East Whately School House renovation project is one step closer to beginning construction.

The 108-year-old school, known as the Blue School for its paint job, received the go-ahead from the Planning Board Wednesday evening, as Robert Obear, owner of Obear Construction, seeks to renovate the building at 219 Christian Lane into “upscale” one-bedroom apartments.

“We’re making nine brand-new apartments where everything is new — nine updated, modernized housing units available to the community,” Obear told the board. “There’s an extremely outdated housing stock in Franklin County that is driving a big part of the housing shortage.”

Work around the exterior and property will be limited. Obear said he plans on adding plantings for screening and maintaining the residential atmosphere of the neighborhood. The current parking lot, which he described as a basketball court, will be slightly expanded and repaved.

During the public hearing, the school’s abutters voiced their concerns for privacy screening around portions of the site to reduce the visibility of headlights in the parking lot. Obear said he’d be happy to work to remedy their concerns. He also said light pollution — from headlights or the expanded parking lot’s lights — will be minimal because there are 23 parking spaces for nine one-bedroom apartments.

“I don’t expect to have much traffic to be honest. There’s not going to be any events there; it’s not going to be like when it was an office or it was a school,” Obear said. “I want to accommodate everyone’s concerns, but I don’t think there’s going to be much light pollution.”

Abutter Mike Bechta also noted the presence of a tree at the intersection of Christian Lane and River Road that can create visibility issues. He requested the Planning Board impose a condition on the project requiring Obear to ensure those sight lines are clear. Bechta also said Obear is being “neighborly” and working to create a “residential feel” around the soon-to-be-rejuvenated school.

Obear noted there is a deteriorating maple tree on the north end of the property that the Highway Department has requested he take down.

The future color of the building, however, is up in the air.

“We’ll take a townwide poll. I think it’s a highly contested matter that I’m not willing to comment on now,” Obear joked, as Planning Board member Sara Cooper chimed in, “It has to stay blue.”

The Planning Board itself had few substantial comments on the project. It did, however, implement several conditions in relation to residents’ comments, alongside its typical requirements. The board is requiring Obear to establish and maintain a sight line at the intersection of Christian Lane and River Road, plant year-round privacy screenings on the western and southern ends of the parking area, remove the damaged maple tree and receive a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals before construction can commence.

After approving the site plan, Planning Board member Brant Cheikes thanked Obear for his work and said it’s “nice to have that building back in use.”

The last major permitting hurdle for Obear is special permit approval from the ZBA. A meeting had been scheduled for May 2, but it was postponed to May 22, at 6:40 p.m. If approved, Obear said he plans to spend about a year on the project before the apartments are usable.

“This is about a 10-month to 1-year project for us, so we’re hoping to get started on the construction soon,” he said. “We’re just trying to get this permitting with the town finalized.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.

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