Commonwealth Honors College Complex bottom right
The Commonwealth Honors College Residential Complex, a $192 million mixed residential and teaching facility that opened in the fall of 2013, was just awarded LEED Silver Certification for its energy efficient design standards.
The other really nice thing about the complex is it provides 1,500 beds to keep students on campus, and because the rooms are so nice the occupants tend to take good care of them.
The complex also has nary a response from UMass police for problem behavior with only the occasional "burnt popcorn" fire alarm response handled by Amherst Fire Department (since UMass does not have its own fire department).
Now if we could just get UMass to partner with a private entity to construct something like this on the Gateway open field -- one that would pay property taxes -- I would really do an Irish jig.
Gateway Area. Fearing & Phillips Streets on left with former Frat Row on right.
Perhaps if UMass promised it would be honors students the project would pass this time.
ReplyDeleteThat neighborhood has some die hard NIMBYs.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the land should sold to UMass, so they wouldn't have to seek permission at that point. The educational zoning has no restrictions on use.
ReplyDeleteThe land is already owned by UMass.
ReplyDeleteThey were going to turn it over to the town for free to do the Gateway Project (as long as it involved student housing) but that got torpedoed by the NIMBYs.
Those damn NIMBYS...
ReplyDeleteDon't even get me started on the solar array project on the old landfill they pulled the plug on.
ReplyDelete5:06
ReplyDeleteActually, the zoning is RG.
However, UMass is exempt from zoning.
It's not clear if a public/private partnership (UMass owns the land, private developer builds the building) would be subject to zoning -or- exempt from zoning
All those greedy Amherst landlords will never support this. Why would they, working on a farm is real work. Gouging students for a couple of years is easy. They always lead the sheep to oppose new housing.
ReplyDeleteHere we go again with terming the landlords "greedy." As though a landlord has no right to make a living.
DeleteGouging students? Get real. Have you ever considered the wear and tear students put on a property?
ReplyDeleteSocialists don't consider that because they don't think. If they did they would surely see that socialism leads to the oppression of those it purports to help. Tyranny and oppression. We always hear there are more prisoners in the United States than in China. Why? Because China Executes them!
ReplyDeleteHow do NIMBY's or other folks get the right to decide what someone builds on their property? Sure they can protest, but in the end if a property is owned it is up to the owner, they can just ignore the NIMBY'S and protests. If the NIMBY's get a legal say, they are no longer NIMBY's, they are owners. The real question is how you can get ownership or posessesions locally. It seems to be implied that you can become a property owner in Amherst without buying or paying, using some other NIMBY technique that looks a lot like theft, may even be theft, actually legalized theft, because you got the town working with you to steal it. Still the laimest of laims. This crap begets more of this crap.
ReplyDeleteClassic Larry, "keep the student on campus" so much disrespect, talking about future socialists like they are cattle in stead of the the pigs they are.
10:45 -- it's called zoning law. You know that you are subject to U.S., Mass and Amherst laws, right? Even if you were a visitor from the Planet Zoar, you would be subject to these laws.
ReplyDeleteSorry 10:45 but property owners don't have unlimited rights for their use of their properties. They have the right to use it for what ever it is zoned for. That's why you can't just drill for oil or put a shopping mall in a residential neighborhood just because you own the lot. Even land zoned for commercial use has all kinds of restrictions, including approvals needed for setbacks from the road, signage sign limitations, number of stories, etc. Not just in Amherst, but everywhere. In Hadley you have to get the color of your sign approved. Welcome to the real world.
ReplyDelete