Jones Library Expansion Hurdles

Strong House to rear and west of Jones Library

It's been a bad week for the Amherst Historical Society, owner of the Strong House Museum adjacent to the Jones Library, and by extension a not so great week for the Library.

On Monday in a marathon 3.5 hour meeting the Community Preservation Act Committee failed to fund an $18,000 request from the Historical Society to fund needed legal work to "clear the deed" of the Strong House which came to them donated -- but with a do not disturb provision.

Without being able to legally break the will they would not be able to sell property at the rear and east of the Strong House for the Jones Library expansion.

Additionally,  at tonight's Trustees Meeting they learned from Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry the selling of the land would make the Strong House "non conforming" in the current R-G (residential) zoning.

Thus the Historical Society will now be requesting a zoning change at a Special Town Meeting to occur in the middle of the regular Spring Town Meeting to change the zoning to B-G (business).

This of course requires a two-thirds vote.

 Former long time Gazette/Bulletin house & gardens columnist Cheryl Wilson reads statement of concern about gardens

To make matters worse the first 25 minutes of the meeting was taken up by concerned members of the Amherst Garden Club and other patrons over the fate of the Kinsey Garden and the Strong House 18th Century Garden, which seem to sit in the way of the proposed expansion.

 Jones Library Trustees (President, Austin Sarat on right)

The Trustees did vote unanimously to allow Chair Austin Sarat to issue a statement of support for a zoning change after the Historical Society meets on Tuesday and issues their zoning change request to the Amherst Planning Board.

   Jones Library MOU with History Museum

Furthermore the Trustees also unanimously supported a Memorandum Of Understanding with the Historical Society concerning the possible purchase of the property.

 Strong House front yard all the way to Amity Street not part of the sale

Fire & Brimstone

First Congregational Church bottom, The Evergreens and Dickinson Homestead on left center & top

 

After originally approving $150,000 of the $200,000 Emily Dickinson Museum request for a fire suppression system at The Evergreens early in the meeting, a few hours later the Community Preservation Act Committee circled back to the request and added another $40,000 bringing it within 5% of the initial request.

CPAC member Jim Brissette had originally spoken against the request a few meetings back, worrying every historically significant building in town would be requesting fire suppression systems.  But he said the testimony he heard convinced him the Museam is a special -- almost unique -- case and worthy of the added protection despite the cost.

Chair Mary Streeter was not as convinced saying Amherst College should be able to come up with the extra $50,000 that the committee originally cut.  But supporters pointed out the College was matching the CPA request dollar for dollar, so that $50,000 cut was really a $100,000 cut.

The Committee was not as generous with the First Congregational Church, whittling their $357,647 request down to $200,000.  Vice Chair Paris Boyce voted against any money saying since the Church was doing a million in renovations, mainly an elevator, so they simply picked an item, fire suppression, that fell within the guidelines of the CPA.

The $390,000 approved for both historic structures still needs Town Meeting approval but that is all but guaranteed.

At the begining of the meeting the CPAC also approved recommending Town Meeting allow the $190,148 approved last year for rehabilitation of the North Common in front of Town Hall be used for that purpose. 

The original approval was contingent on a $400,000 PARC grant, but the state denied that request for the second time.  Thus town officals will return to the CPAC in a couple years for additional funding.

North Common is the centerpiece of downtown

Deleterious Downtown Delay

Cowles Lane down to areas west of Kendrick Park

Looks like the Planning Board will backtrack on the zoning article tweak designed to increase the density of our downtown with potential customers for our starving small businesses.

 South Prospect Street behind Amherst Cinema building

The main sponsor/architect -- Business Improvement District -- has requested the zoning article be withdrawn for the upcoming Town Meeting, although they were quick to add "We would like an assurance from the Zoning Subcommittee they will continue to work on this important article and keep it a priority for Fall Town Meeting."

Click to enlarge/read

Simply put the article would have allowed in the B-L District (limited business) mixed use buildings on less than 20,000 square feet of property to have residential units, thus increasing potential customers in the heart of the downtown.

 Area north of Triangle Street

Currently three B-L districts all over the downtown would be impacted as well as Amherst College owned property on Dickinson Street and additional property along University Drive.

   Amherst Zoning Change Memo

B-L districts circled in red

And Another One Gone ...

Artefakt Gallery closing

Our beloved downtown continues its slow but steady decline with yet another shop that is not a bar or restaurant calling it quits.

And yes the stores on either side -- All Things Local and The Mercantile -- are also dead or closing by March 1st.

 104 - 110 North Pleasant Street

That end of downtown is turning into a crypt.

 Carriage Shops have been closed and abandoned for over a year now

Meanwhile, Kimballs Auction Barn -- a fixture in North Amherst -- is moving to 299 Russell Street (Rt9) next to Rocky's Hardware. Cinda Jones, "the Donald Trump of North Amherst", confirms she is selling the building and 47 acres of land to farmer Joe Czajikowski.

 Rt 9 certainly has more traffic than Meadow Street

Previous business was an Art Gallery

Furthermore, Should you be running out of gas on the east side of Amherst you're out of luck, as the Cumberland Farms store -- perhaps the busiest convenience store in Amherst -- is closed for at least another week due to renovations.

And the shuttered Sunoco -- Barney's -- directly across the street, still has yet to find a new tenant.

 Barney's (left) Cumbys (right)

There's Something Happening Here

White Hut calling it quits

Yes, the restaurant business is the most unmerciful of all when it comes to failure rate before a 5th anniversary.

But the number of Amherst downtown food businesses that have failed or been sold/renamed in the past year or so makes me wonder what the hell is happening here.  But what it is ain't exactly clear.

 Baby Berk is a popular on campus late night food truck

With UMass Auxiliary Enterprises (aka dining services) doing everything possible to keep students on campus and with the built in advantage that comes with being a tax exempt entity, it's beginning to look like a hard working, tax generating, mom & pop simply can't compete.

 Location next to Bueno Y Sano didn't help of course

Downtown Development Do Over?

Archipelago paid $4.6 million for the Carriage Shops

One of the downsides of taking too long to break ground on your controversial construction project is the rules could change, kind of like moving the goal line during the Superbowl half time show.

Take One East Pleasant Street for instance.  The "mixed use" five story 84-unit project was expected to mimic the success of nearby Kendrick Place:  Mostly high-end apartments with a ground floor dedicated to commercial and space for bicycles and zip cars.

Kendrick Place dominates/anchors the north end of downtown

But Town Meeting this spring will be discussing two zoning articles that could retroactively impact One East Pleasant:  A Planning Board article describing more precisely what constitutes a "mixed use" building i.e. possibly requiring more square footage be dedicated to commercial.

And Vince O'Connor's citizens petition aimed directly at developers Dave Williams and Kyle Wilson requiring mixed use buildings be subject to the town's "Inclusionary Zoning Bylaw" requiring 10% of the units be "affordable."

The Planning Board will hold public hearings on both warrant articles early next month but both of those hearings have to be advertised in a local newspaper two weeks in advance.  On that day of publication the zoning would apply to One East Pleasant if later passed by Town Meeting in May, unless the developers receive a building permit.

Simply starting demolition of the former Carriage Shops is not enough.

 Amherst Carriage Inn:  state of the art hotel/motel (for the 1960s)

The ambitious project was approved by the Planning Board in December, 2014 but a lawsuit brought by a disgruntled competitor delayed things until mid-August when Judge Richard Carey punted it out of his courtroom .

The Special Permit was then  granted on August 14 and had another 30 days before legally taking effect.

 Firm agreement to repaint history mural also needs to be in place befor a Building Permit issued

According to Building Commissioner Rob Morra the developers then have six months to (significantly) act on that Special Permit, meaning a drop-dead deadline of March 14.  And there are still details to work out over asbestos removal and the repainting of the history mural.

Development in Amherst is never, never, never easy.  And if some Town Meeting members had their way it would never, never, never happen. 

   One East Pleasant, Amherst by Larry Kelley

Downtown Turnover

Insomnia Cookies coming soon to 30 Main Street

When the former prime location of Alden Credit Union, which lasted less than two years, is replaced by a cookie delivery business you know you're in a "college town." 

 11 Amity Street, former First National Bank

Last summer TD Bank abandoned the ornate former First National Bank building in the heart of the downtown and thus far the luxurious location is still unoccupied.  As is All Things Local just down the street and soon to be shuttered The Mercantile next door.

All three locations are owned by Barry Roberts so there's little doubt they will be occupied soon enough.

And since Mr. Roberts understands the value of having the right mix of businesses, chances are none of the three will become a pizza place or bar.

 Just across the street from Insomnia Cookies

A Blessed Building

St Brigid's Church, built 1924

For the second year in a row the Amherst Select Board has declared February 1st "Amherst Irish Day aka St. Brigid's Day" a celebration of all things Irish -- the hard working folks who helped build this town back when Miss Emily was hibernating in her upstairs room.

Yes, it specifically started only last year (even though the Irish have been here since 1840s) to counteract the idiotic "Blarney Blowout", a Frat Boy slander of the Irish with particular emphasis on highly profitable alcohol sales.

Fortunately, with the assist of 225 police officers, the Blarney Blowout last March was a blow over, and will be again this year.  While the Amherst Irish Association event was a resounding success.

When St. Brigid's was first built it dominated the downtown and was one of the largest buildings in Amherst.   Then in the mid-1960s UMass started to grow exponentially with those Southwest Towers reaching for the sky.

But St Brigid's is still -- and hopefully always will be -- a stirring symbol. 

Housing: A Human Right

Hwei-Ling Greeney, director of Amherst Community Connections, went before the Amherst Community Preservation Act Committee last night to defend her proposal to house five "chronic homeless individuals" in apartments for three years at $83,819 per year, or a total request of $251,457.

A recent headcount concluded Amherst has 19 chronically homeless individuals within our town borders.  And on most days you can see them in the downtown panhandling, or simply hanging around with nothing to do.

 Hwei-Ling Greeney appears before Community Preservation Act Committee

Yes that $251,457 works out to $16,763 annually per person, but these days the average welfare recipient in Massachusetts cost taxpayers almost three times that.

And Ms. Greeney pointed out that in 2012 Amherst police had 775 calls related to the homeless for a budget cost of $58,000.

And AFD often has to transport overly intoxicated (or drug related) homeless individuals from the downtown to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, with a high likelihood those $1,000 trips go unpaid.

Community Connections asking price includes not just the high cost of a one bedroom apartment in Amherst, but an additional case worker who will provide individuals with metal health support services which will hopefully cut down on their involvement with APD and AFD.

The CPA Committee was not overly receptive to the request due to its high cost, untried paradigm and the concern it may not be restricted to down on their luck individuals with some solid connection to the town.

CPA Chair Mary Streeter acknowledged the great need but suggested Ms. Greeney go back to the proposed landlords and see if she can negotiate a lower rent. 

The Committee currently has $1,778,747 available but they have 14 proposals before them that add up to more than that.

In March the Committee will make their final decision over which projects to recommend to Town Meeting.  And Town Meeting almost always takes their advice.

No Pot For You!

Extravaganja last April 18th, 2015

While the Amherst Select Board did not take an actual vote, their comments seemed to indicate they were in unanimous agreement with Interim Town Manager (for another week anyway) Dave Ziomek refusing to issue a permit this year for the 25th annual Extravaganja pot rally on the historic Town Common.

AFD Chief Nelson (left), APD Chief Livingstone (right)

APD Chief Scott Livingstone and AFD Chief Tim Nelson agreed the rally had outgrown the capacity of the Town Common and represented a potential threat to public safety.  The Select Board took pains to say they were not concerned with the message/content of the event, simply its size.

Connie Kruger pointed out they were a victim of their own success.  But now that she has two grandchildren she has become "more conservative," and public safety is paramount.

Terry Franklin, citing First Amendment, threatens to bring in ACLU

Longtime event organizer Terry Franklin threatened a lawsuit based on First Amendment grounds.

Lesson Learned?

Thursday around noon, Sellen Street, town center

Friday around noon, Sellen Street, town center

In the past year I've spotted and photographed three vehicles in town center with a "denver boot" attached.  Being bright orange they are pretty hard to miss.  And all three times, within hours, the driver had paid their parking tickets so the boot would be removed.

According to Treasurer/Collector Parking Director Claire McGinnis the town has two boots although she can only remember maybe one occasion over the past ten years when both were in use at the same time.

The boot is used when a driver has accumulated five unpaid tickets, and since a simple parking meter violation is only $10 that five ticket threshold is not all that much in actual dollars.  Of course there's additional late fees on each ticket, and an additional $25 charge to remove the boot, $50 the second time and $75 the third time.

Which is why I'm a little surprised this driver has not gotten the message, and still let the parking meter expire.

 Town takes in almost as much in fines/violations as it does for routine meter fees

Another Unattended Death

UPDATE: Thursday afternoon

The District Attorney's office has identified the deceased as Amherst resident Adam Gamble, age 32.  The case remains under investigation.  Gamble has a previous arrest record with APD.

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The District Attorney's office has confirmed Amherst Police, AFD and the Massachusetts State Police attached to the DA's office responded to Bertucci's yesterday for an unattended death.

According to DA spokesperson Mary Carey, "The death appears non-suspicious, and non-criminal in nature and the investigation is ongoing."

I asked if a drug overdose would still qualify as "non-suspicious and non-criminal in nature," and she said "yes."

The Amherst Town Clerk recorded 217 total deaths in 2015 and so far this year, 9 (not counting this most recent one).

College Town Moving On Up

Amherst has a commercial tax base under 10%

I usually hate those puff piece Internet listicles placing Amherst in the top ten for this that or the other, oftentimes made up category.  But BusinessWest is a different story altogether.  A legitimate insider bible of the industry, and their industry is of course "business."

Way to go, oh hometown of mine.

Partnerships Spur Development in Amherst
click link above to read article

Kendrick Place dominates the north end of downtown (at least until One East Pleasant is built)

A Moveable History?

12 Hallock (circled) will be demolished for parking  and house in front razed for a new multi-level commercial building

The Amherst Historical Commission will hold a demolition delay hearing on Tuesday night regarding two adjacent structures in the north end of downtown owned by two prominent local developers, Curt Shumway and Barry Roberts.

   12 Hallock Street Amherst

Besides dripping in local history the other main factor working against the immediate demolition is both buildings are in excellent condition with a lot of visual curb appeal.

 12 Hallock Street

236 North Pleasant Street

Perhaps a downside of the two local developers being responsible owners over the years and actually taking good care of the structures.  

   236 North Pleasant Street Amherst

The Historical Commission can only impose a maximum of a one-year delay and they appear to be not overly influenced by the status of an owner.

For instance back in July of 2014 they voted to impose the one year delay on Cinda Jones -- dubbed by neighbors as the "Donald Trump of Amherst" -- for a historic barn on Montague Road in The Mill District.

 Cowls barn 134 Montague Road in The Mill District, North Amherst

Although that demolition delay has now expired the barn is still a stately presence looming over the North Amherst Village center.

Vestry now at 12 Hallock Street was originally just behind what is now College/Memorial Hall, owned by Amherst College

Editor's note:  In the interest of transparency Curt Shumway is an advertiser and I was one of the 10,000 babies delivered by Dr. Merzbach