Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Form Based Zoning moves forward


The Zoning sub-committee of the Planning Board voted 2-0 one absent to recommend to the full Planning Board "Form Based Zoning" for Atkins Corner and North Amherst Village Center be placed on the warrant for the upcoming Town Meeting starting next month.

And a few hours later the full board voted 5-1 to make it so (Richard Roznoy the only "No").

The Select Board will sign the warrant on Friday.

The form based code requires the maintaining of an architectural look and feel for any new development occurring in those village centers. Because it's zoning, the article requires a two-thirds vote of Amherst Town Meeting, which starts November 7.

While the areas impacted are only the two village centers at the far ends of Amherst, the passing of the article will be a positive indicator for the Gateway Project near Amherst center--connecting the commercial downtown with UMass.

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority is strongly in favor of rezoning the Gateway District, and Form Based Zoning will help enable the public private partnership to work .

Jonathan O'Keefe, Robert Crowner, Richard Roznoy, David Webber, Constance Kruger, Stephen Schreiber

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