A Matter Of Student Safety

Attorney Tom Reidy and Cliff Laraway appear before ZBA last night, Chair Mark Parent (ctr)

Sometimes the difference between life and death is measured in mere seconds -- especially when dealing with The Beast otherwise known as  fire.

A cluttered escape route, narrow stairway, or -- God forbid -- a door locked from the outside that doesn't allow opening from within, could quickly spell death of a most unimaginable kind.

Would you trust your life to this fire escape?

At last night's Special Permit hearing for 382 North Pleasant Street, which most people probably think of as a fraternity (which apparently it still is),  Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Mark Parent clearly stated, "My concern is about safety, that's what is driving this.  Some kids do crazy stuff and we need to protect them from themselves."

A September 29 Site Visit turned up "living rooms" with doors on them, and at least ten rooms with external locks on them (which as a joke someone could lock the person in), as well as a bevy of extra mattresses in storage.

A Tad Too Many Tenants

Mr. Parent told the petitioner and his attorney, "It is very clear to me this site is occupied by at least 10 people consistently. No question it's more than the 8 allowed.  We need to come up with conditions that rectify that."

The town of Amherst has a zoning bylaw that restricts occupancy to no more than four unrelated housemates per one family unit.

Owner Cliff Laraway is requesting a Special Permit to allow the structure to be a two family, non owner occupied structure (for up to 8 unrelated tenants).  But the layout of the former fraternity, with so many rooms, makes it hard to enforce only eight of them be bedrooms.

Building Commissioner Rob Morra stated, "There have to be significant structural changes, like taking out a wall vs simply removing a door".

The Amherst Fire Department, having done car counts over the month of September, considers it a "rooming house" with 10 or more tenants, thus requiring an expensive ($39,000) sprinkler system.

 Click to enlarge/read

The Special Permit hearing was continued to November 5th so the ZBA could request an AFD representative attend.

The petitioner was sternly instructed to come back with floor plans that show eight and only eight bedrooms as well as physical changes in place to keep the other numerous available rooms from conveniently be used as additional bedrooms.

Building Commissioner Rob Morra did not waste any time taking enforcement steps to ensure the current population of the building goes down to only eight:

   Amherst 382 N Pleasant violations

ZBA Do Over

382 North Pleasant Street Saturday early afternoon (note beer pong bottom rt)

382 North Pleasant Street, A "house" with a long history of rowdy behavior, came before the Zoning Board of Appeals last week with the (somewhat) new owner wishing to renew it as a two-family unit allowing 8 unrelated tenants.

A ZBA 2006 decision had denied a Special Permit for it to continue as a fraternity/rooming house which it was originally built as in 1967.

 382 North Pleasant Street September 3, 2014

Parking was the initial issue this time around as the new owner (Clifford Laraway) wanted  13 parking spaces and the ZBA and neighbors wanted it far fewer at 8.  The compromise was 10 total,  8 parking spaces for tenants and 2 for guests.  

But the current tenants don't seem to follow the rules very closely. Attorney Peter MacConnell insisted there was an "education period" required.

ZBA member Keith Langsdale took issue with that saying the parking citations had been issued in April and presumable these tenants had been living there since September, which doesn't say much for the "education" process.

Outgoing ZBA Chair Eric Beal was greatly concerned about the number of rooms in the building and how many of them seemed to give indication of being used as bedrooms well beyond the eight maximum allowed by law.  A number of "living rooms" had doors on them.

And during a site visit in April six beds were spotted stored on the 3rd floor.

Assistant Fire Chief Don McKay drew a line in the sand saying in a memo that AFD would only support the special permit renewal if a new improved fire alarm system and Knox box were installed, and the removal of an underground oil storage tank.

When he made his inspection of the inadequate fire system back in April Assistant Chief McKay noticed 12 cars parked (a violation of the 10 car parking plan) and they all had cold engines, indicating they probably had been there overnight.

The June 11 meeting was a continuation from October 30, 2014 initial start (with other hearings continued to December 11, 2014 and May 14, 2015) so the original three ZBA members must make the final decision.

All three board members wanted to see a floor plan that clearly showed where 8 bedrooms would be located.  Not the "bedroom/living room" either/or format that they were given that night. And Mr. Beal suggested the doors be removed from any room designated as a "living room" or "pantry."

Chair Eric Beal was retiring as of the end of the meeting.  The ZBA never adopted the Mullins Rule (where a member can miss one meeting as long as they listen to the recording) so the petitioner had to formally withdraw and must now resubmit a new Special Permit application, although the board did waive the fees. 

New owner has shown some initiative

382 North Pleasant rap sheet (yellow highlights indicate when new owner took over)