Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Another Housing Hurdle Cleared

In Chapter 61A the property paid the town less than $100 annually

The Select Board, our ultimate political authority, voted unanimously NOT to to use their right of first refusal to purchase 5.79 acres on University Drive that Town Meeting recently rezoned from Office Park to Business Limited to allow the new owner, UMass New Build LLC,  to construct 32 units (3 of them "affordable") of high end student housing.

The town would have had to match the $660,000 price of the current purchase and sale agreement.

Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek also told the SB that the new owners would be making a donation to the town to help offset taking out of production the 3 acres or so of the property that is now farmed.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What Eva happened to all those new dorms Umass proposed a few back for Orchard Hill by Sylvan ???!!!Seems nothing doing ???!

Anonymous said...

Sensible!

Anonymous said...

Hooray!

Anonymous said...

New UMass dorms are way down the line in the master plan. Meanwhile, between Kendrick, Olympia and this...good to see more options for the students in town.

Now we just need rent to come down so they aren't compelled to squeeze 8 kids in a house to bring rent down...

Anonymous said...

Great location. They should build a Kendrick Place type of building here so there is both business and housing. Make U Dr a tax haven..but instead we put the Center of Extnded care & the arbors there. Develop that road correctly and it would be a tax haven so I dont have to be asked for 2.5% all the damn time.

This new devlopment will help a little at least.

Anonymous said...

Is this something in town that is not subject to the pecking to death by the Nattering Anonymous Nabobs of Negativity that reside here? Wow. Plant a flag.

Rich Morse

Anonymous said...

You most be a school nutzoidic union cheerleader -YOU get rich -Amherst gets -LOW !!!?$&@

Nina Koch said...

Haven't thought about Spiro Agnew in quite some time...