Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Orchard Valley Grows Again


36 Longmeadow Drive, Amherst

The house at 36 Longmeadow Drive, built back in 1970, has been demolished and crews are busy going about the construction of a new five bedroom house owned by CIL Realty using $232,000 federal tax subsidized monies to purchase the property and another $445,000 to build a new home.

Interestingly CIL put out a press release almost two years ago touting the $12 million MassDevelopment tax exempt bond issue to fund the acquisition of thirteen properties in eleven municipalities for the construction of community based group homes for the disabled.  What's interesting is Amherst was not on the list. 

Of course after the forever battle over Butternut Farm low income project only two doors down from the proposed group home, I can't say that I blame them for keeping things quiet.

According to Building Commissioner Rob Morra the construction project is pretty much immune from local zoning law due to the the "Dover Amendment".  So, for instance, the home will be allowed to house five unrelated occupants in violation of the towns usual cap of four. 

And because 36 Longmeadow Drive is now owned by a non-profit, tax exempt entity, the property could go off the tax rolls.




Butternut Farm, 12 Longmeadow Drive, Amherst

3 comments:

Dr. Ed said...

Hmmm.... The "four person" rule is a bylaw, not zoning, so why does Dover apply?

If 35 Longmeadow is the one I think it was, it had a major mold problem and demolishing it wasn't a bad idea. There is a REALLY HIGH water table in that area and it causes lots of problems -- technically, it isn't far from being considered a "wetland."

Tom Porter said...

I will buy a beer for anyone who can provide the useless information that answers my question, following:

Orchard Valley was built as a "KV Development" There was a huge sign out by the West Street entrance labeled "Kay - Vee."

Who was, or were, "K" (and) "V" ?

Anonymous said...

K and V were Norman Keddy and George Vadnais.