Cowls Tree Farm northeast Amherst
W-A-Y before signing a $6.5 million purchase and sale agreement with Landmark Properties for 147 acres of woodland now destined to become The Retreat, a high-end student housing development, the W.D. Cowls company offered to donate the land for a proposed new unnamed college that seven years later materialized in South Amherst as Hampshire College.
Yes even back in 1958 the property was ripe for development. Today Hampshire College hosts 1,400 students -- or twice the number of the proposed Retreat, with 641 total tenants.
Nice try, but the difference is that there were few people living out there at the time.
ReplyDeleteLet's face it, this project is basically a high end dorm. This area isn't zoned for dorms which should be built closer to campus.
ReplyDeleteActually no.
ReplyDeleteDorms are owned and operated by the institute of higher education.
The Retreat is privately owned.
The word "basically" implies that it is similar to but not necessarily the same as.
ReplyDeleteWell then, "basically" it's an idiotic argument that will cost you a fair amount in legal fees and accomplish nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe goal is to improve the quality of life in Amherst by destroying a neighborhood. Smart.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Larry, for pointing out that this wasn't the right place for something with the density of Hampshire College. They were way better being off of Rt. 116 than on a country road.
ReplyDeleteThat's one way to spin it.
ReplyDeleteActually the recent traffic study concluded the roads could handle The Retreat traffic just fine.
Actually Larry, I was just looking for The BETA Group's traffic study and I couldn't find it. Can you share the link with us or let us know where it can be read.
ReplyDeleteThanks
I read it at the Planning Department in Town Hall. I was told it would be put up an the town website.
ReplyDeleteIt is on the town's website. I looked at it briefly and it is poorly done. Anyone who has lived in Amherst and regularly traveled the roads involved will laugh at their "analysis" that these roads could handle the Retreat traffic. It's 335 pages with 35 pages of report and 300 pages on numbers. They must think people will be fooled by all the numbers.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.. I just read the whole study and I was surprised at how clear and actuate it is. It studies every main road and intersection in North Amherst that would be effected and uses numbers collected by street counters to put together a very clear picture of how each road and intersection are currently being used.
ReplyDeleteI'm not totally sure of the final conclusion but this is one of the better studies I have seen done in this town.
Amherst taxpayers pay millions to widen and straighten country road after drunk student kills family in head on collision.
ReplyDeleteSigned,
The Future
Amherst taxpayers pay millions to widen and straighten country road after drunk student kills family in head on collision.
ReplyDeleteReflecting on the fact that not only was a blinking yellow light not installed at the 116 split after a drunk townie killed a UMass student in a head-on collision when she was on the wrong side of a divided highway, what exactly makes you think the town would be forced to straighten the road after a similar tragedy?
People would say exactly what they did to me -- it's the drunk and not the road that caused the accident...
Well, Anon 4:27 AM if this is one of the better studies you have seen done in this town, then we are really in trouble. For example, this "study" failed to include a major intersection in their traffic count: Northeast St and Strong Ave which serves as a conduit for many commuters to the university. Another example, their citing of the sight line distances at the intersection of Henry St, Northeast St, Flathills and Shutesbury Rd as adequate assumes that people follow the speed limit. Just the other day I watched(from the Shutesbury Rd/FlatHills intersection with Henry st an APD cruiser come up Northeast st (i.e. heading North) well over the speed limit, no flashing lights, etc., just going faster than the allowed speed limit. He wasn't there when I first looked left, then was there after looked back after I looked right. Had I not looked a second time and entered the intersection, he would have crashed into me. This just illustrates why national statistics and averages do not always reflect local conditions. And,let's not even get into the weather conditions in the winter and what that will do.
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:41 said:
ReplyDeleteFor example, this "study" failed to include a major intersection in their traffic count: Northeast St and Strong Ave which serves as a conduit for many commuters to the university.
Hummm.. Given the location of the Retreat, that intersection plays a much smaller role then any of the 7 or do they did study. And if that proves that it's a bad study then perhaps your standers are too high. I'm guess you also want this kind of study to cost less too? More intersections = more cost.
As far as sight lines being only fine if you stay with in the speed limit, I'm not sure you real can study any thing else. If you felt that the cruiser was traveling too fast then I believe it's your duty to report it and not just use it as an example of how a traffic study is flawed. If you believe the traffic will be traveling to fast when the Retreat opens, it would be a great idea to ask the APD to set up speed traps and slow things down. Understand that I'm guessing they will catch just as many locals as students.
Anon 4:27
Anon 4:27,
ReplyDeleteActually, if you look at the plans, you'll find that a majority of he units are closest to the Henry St and Flat Hills exits, not the Market Hill Rd exit which is supposedly the main one. Leaving the "Retreat" by either of these two entrances will puts you closer to the university if you go down Northeast St and on to Strong St. So why drive the opposite way and take longer to get to the university if you don't have to. Students will figure this out pretty fast, especially if they are running late to a class or exam. This is why I think the study is poorly done. It just uses national statistics, averages, and algorithms to measure traffic flow, it does not look at the on ground reality of the situation.
Anon 10:41 PM
In Amherst, there is no such thing as "experts" and "authorities" on any topic at all.
ReplyDeleteEach individual citizen in Amherst is the highest authority there is. No expert is better. No study is better.
No need for debate, no need to defer to better information, no need to rebut a study with facts, when each person in Amherst is the smartest person in town, and clearly more knowledgeable than any "outsider".