Gateway: "Not dead yet!"

I was considering a motion for the next Amherst Redevelopment Authority meeting to use our remaining funds ($30,000) to hire a hitman to take out Amherst Chamber of Commerce Director Tony Maroulis over his Front Page/Above-The-Fold comment in today's Amherst Bulletin: "I think what we came up with for the Gateway parcel is not so exciting." Yikes!

But then I received this email:

Sent: Thu, Jul 14, 2011 11:16 am
Subject: FW: Gateway article corrected quote for blog

My quote was taken out of context within a much larger conversation that was a much more relevant expression of my thoughts on Gateway. I said I wasn't excited about Gateway with the caveat that I said that that money was well spent. Especially since there is consensus around high-density zoning near and around Kendrick Park. The plan was also a rejection of the status quo, which in the end, even if we don't get what I think is exciting is a big step in the right direction.

I also made a lot of salient points about people insisting change is bad, expressed so within the article by Louis Greenbaum. Change is always happening, and we need to make some changes to be the best college town in America.

The project's legacy will be long felt, I believe, even if nothing is constructed on the parcel right away. People acknowledged what's there now is not acceptable, which suggests to me something MUST happen in the future.

Tony Maroulis

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The Bully Reports

The article also makes it sound like the ARA is limping off into the sunset, dejected and defeated. Hardly. At our most recent June 30 meeting the ARA unanimously voted to accept/endorse the plan/concept/vision put forth by our consultant Gianni Longo, and to continue as the lead agency to promote the mutually beneficial partnership with UMass for the development of the former Frat Row, two acres of exceeding prime, open, shovel-ready, property.

Atkins North?

Atkins Country Market

Informed sources--a giant leap up from rumor--inform me that Atkins Country Market, a South Amherst destination spot founded in 1887 is, finally, considering expansion via an additional location: the 14,400 square foot former Cowls Sawmill building in North Amherst, hence the designation Atkins North.

Since the sawmill building was constructed in 2004, after the original burned down from a lightening strike, and was built to be wide open with town water/sewer and sprinklers, the transition to retail is pretty much turn-key.

The building and surrounding acreage is zoned business so the change in occupancy will only require "site plan approval" by the Planning Board--far easier than a zoning change which requires a two-thirds vote of Amherst Town Meeting, an entity never know as business friendly.

By far the busiest business in South Amherst and top-ten town employer overall, a North Amherst Atkins operation would create bookend anchors for the entire town and attract new customers from far and wide--especially from up north. Daytrippers attracted to Yankee Candle--a tourist magnet in South Deerfield--would be tempted to make the short hop down to North Amherst.

With the Gateway corridor project--a joint effort between UMass and the Amherst Redevelopment Authority on the northern end of town center--reaching a critical point for a go-or-no-go launch decision, this positive development only a half mile on the other side of campus will clearly compliment the vision for a mixed use signature project on the former Frat Row.

North Amherst Center

Cowls Building Supply

ARA stays the Gateway course

Tonight the Amherst Redevelopment Authority voted unanimously to:

1. Adopt "the vision" put forth by our consultant for the Gateway Corridor
   
2. Continue to be the lead agency charged with realizing that vision
   
3. Request the Town Manager prioritize this project and provide town staff support

The emphasis will be narrowed to focus on the 2 acre former Frat Row currently owned by UMass--what Gianni Longo described as a "catalyst". And with the added good news that Robert Holub will continue as UMass Amherst Chancellor for another year, this ambitious signature project can now move forward with all due speed.

ACP consultant Gianni Longo

Chancellor Robert Holub

Fate of the Gateway

Nothing really new came out of last night's joint meeting between the Amherst Redevelopment Authority and the Amherst Planning Board: A vision of what the Gateway Corridor could be was presented, residents raised concerns and committee members took it all in.

Tonight at 5:00 PM, in the first back-to-back meeting in over twenty years, the ARA meets again to decide the critical issue of where to go from here. Do we bow out gracefully now that a "vision" has been articulated and let the town figure out how to proceed? Who will take up the negotiations with UMass for the former Frat Row--a signature piece of property that our consultant called a "catalyst" for positive change?

Tomorrow is July 1st--start of the new fiscal year. At this exceedingly late juncture we don't even know who will be running UMass/Amherst in the near future.

The retirement of Building Commissioner Bonnie Weeks will also delay the hiring of a new building code enforcement officer, so slum lords get a reprieve while owner occupied houses in residential neighborhoods will once again have to endure party houses when UMass students return, and the cycle resumes yet again.

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow..."

Gateway Project Dress Rehearsal

So tonight's Amherst Redevelopment Authority meeting was simply an extra study session with our homework--the final draft from our $30,000 consultant on the Gateway Vision and Action Steps--before the B-I-G public unveiling next Wednesday evening in a joint public hearing with the Planning Board.

The key question tonight came from someone in the audience: Is the University of Massachusetts still interested in donating the signature property of almost 2 acres (former Frat Row) now that the preliminary design vision wants to keep half of it green space?

Deputy Chancellor Todd Diacon dodged the question for now, but confirmed he would be talking to the new President, Robert Caret in July. And of course the fate of current UMass/Amherst Chancellor Robert Holub could also have a major impact.
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June 29, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM @ Town Room, Town Hall

MEETING TIME: 7:00 pm. LOCATION: Town Room, Town Hall. LIST OF TOPICS - Joint Mtg. w/Amherst Redevelopment Authority - A. Presentation: Gateway Corridor Vision & Next Steps, Gianni Longo, ACP; B. Board questions and comments; C. Public questions and comments.

Reach for the sky

Boltwood Place is now in full construction mode as they race to ready for a Fall opening. The five story mixed use LEED certified building is the first major construction project in the downtown in a l-o-n-g time.

Technically described as "infill," the building, five floors reaching 50 feet in height on only a 2,500 square foot postage stamp of a footprint, will most certainly stand out on its own, and will also stand in as the poster child for exactly what the Amherst Redevelopment Authority had in mind when we donated the prime adjacent property to the town for the construction of the Boltwood Walk Parking Garage ten years ago.

The ARA meets this Friday to receive and discuss the Final Report from our consultant on the Gateway Corridor Vision in anticipation of the joint meeting with the Planning Board/public hearing on Wednesday, June 29 in the prime location Town Room from 7:00 to 9:00 PM.

Gateway Vision area

Gateway Vision Final draft (hot copy) It's a big file so you have to download the PDF

Interesting comparison of construction potential for Gateway

Gateway Project pauses

A shovel ready former Frat Row

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority met this evening for the first time since the whirlwind three days of public input at the Gateway Visioning Charrette last month with advice cascading in from all quarters to clarify a vision for a large swath of land connecting UMass to downtown Amherst.

The final report from our consultant Giani Longo is scheduled for presentation on 6/29 to a joint meeting of the Amherst Planning Board and the ARA at an open public meeting--an official unveiling, minus the drumroll.

Giani Longo

The ARA hopes to receive a draft copy hot off the Internet a week or so before the public presentation and will make that available to the general public as well.

The scope of the project was somewhat constrained when predominant public opinion envisioned less dense development on the 2 acre parcel UMass owns, still referred to as "Frat Row" even though the five frat houses are long gone.

One of the sub-consultants also thought adjacent property in the corridor was not slummy enough to be considered "blighted" (although Phillips Street stood out as "decadent") which is required for the ARA to attain 'Urban Renewal' status that brings with it federal money and easier use of imminent domain powers.

Unfortunately our colleagues from UMass, Deputy Chancellor Todd Diacon and Director of External Relations Nancy Buffone missed this meeting as they are attending a four day conference in Colorado hosted by the International Town & Gown Association, where one of the major topics of discussion will be how to control rowdy student behavior in otherwise quiet neighborhoods.

Deputy Chancellor Todd Diacon center

When the topic of "new business" came up, the entire committee opposed even considering other projects besides Gateway and agreed that even if reduced in scope this project can still be a signature development of premier proportions.

Negotiating a minefield

It's safe to say the working relationship between UMass/Amherst and the town of Amherst, colloquially known as town/gown, has never been better.

Perhaps best reflected in the workings of the Campus and Community Coalition--a large committee of concerned public officials who live and work in the shadow of UMass, or the partnership forged recently to bring about the dream of a new Gateway Corridor to revitalize the physical link between UMass and downtown Amherst.

And these important initiatives--especially the Gateway Project--have flourished under the reign of Robert Holub, an academic (German literature no less) who seems to understand entrepreneurship, as evidenced by the significant increase in out-of-state enrollments that brings in higher profit margins per head to the flagship trying to negotiate turbulent economic waters.

Naturally I first welcomed him to town by pointing out his children attend the Amherst public schools while he lives in a tax exempt home on campus. One of my readers responded that it was a good thing: unlike some highly paid administrators in the Amherst School system, Chancellor Holub demonstrates confidence in our all-important institution by sending us his most prized treasure.

Last Sunday--seemingly out of nowhere--The Boston Globe detonated a major bombshell all but declaring Chancellor Holub a lame duck. Why? Spending $60,000 in consulting fees for an ill fated attempt to establish a medical school in Springfield, less than stellar ratings from an anonymous survey of classroom professors and an alleged cavalier attitude about affirmative action when it comes to attracting black students.

Overall, however, UMass/Amherst has a higher percentage of minority students under Holub's tenure--but unfortunately for him they are of the wrong target demographic; and when the Governor is black, I guess it's not hard to figure out what quota needs to command attention.

Last year, Amherst's interim (now permanent) Superintendent Maria Geryk--without telling the Regional School Committee--signed a $96,000 consulting contract with UMass School of Education for services some would consider mutually beneficial and therefor should have been free...how to better teach high school students.

So I'm trying to figure out what's the big deal with Mr. Holub--in command of a overall budget seven times higher than the Amherst Regional High School--spending a lousy $60,000 to perform due diligence on the possibility of establishing a medical school in Springfield?

Congressman Ritchie Neal seemed very supportive--and since he was instrumental in the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School acquiring a $1.5 million federal grant, safe bet he could have done the same for UMass.

UMass President Jack Wilson fought hard to found a law school at UMass/Dartmouth and probably spent a fair amount in consulting fees leading up to it. And if I had to choose what the state could use more of--lawyers or doctors--it would be an easy call.

And the fact that employees under Holub as measured by Mass Society of Professors don't particularly like him strikes me as a good thing. If employees love their boss, chances are the boss is not pushing them very hard to perform.

Interestingly, only 220 union members bothered to submit the survey on Holub's evaluation but a week later over 700 weighed in on the "Exceptional Merit Proposal". Kind of like Amherst's last local election that garnered under a 10% turnout vs. an Override election attracting 30%. Pocketbook issues seem to get everyone's attention.

UMass/Amherst has suffered budget cut after budget cut, yet it's still ranked in the top 20 universites in the world. And last I looked the world is a pretty BIG place.

The endowment is at an all time high indicating strong approval from alumni, the incoming class is the largest in history with the highest average SATs and GPAs so their retention rate will also be stellar as well (and safe to bet none of them will win my "Party House of the Weekend" award).

This is not the time for a change in command. As President Lincoln once said, "best not to swap horses while crossing the river."

Support from Amherst officials and business community

Support from University of California Berkeley

The morning after

North Pleasant Street (opposite former Frat Row)

Allen Street (Gateway District)

Phillips Street (Gateway District)

Gateway: A shift in focus

Kendrick Park: green triangle your left, center right: 2 L shaped buildings 1 parking garage on frat row, green common in front

After intensive discussion with stakeholders, town officials, ARA members and a diverse cross section of Amherst residents we now have a preliminary plan, and the focus has shifted a tad closer to Amherst town center with less emphasis on commercial development and no student undergraduate housing, thus allaying fears of downtown business owners concerned about competition and nearby neighbors fearing rowdy undergrads.

The former Frat Row would maintain green space, a "new common," on the entire strip of frontage contiguous with North Pleasant street (and a smaller green "plaza" on the other side of the street) with mixed-used buildings and a parking garage on the rear two thirds.

But the new shift in attention is now to the west side of Kendrick Park and the intersection of East Pleasant/North Pleasant/Triangle streets with hopes for a "signature building" on the rise overlooking the northern tip of Kendrick Park currently occupied by the University Lodge hotel owned by hotel magnate Curt Shumway,president of the Hampshire Hospitality Group, who carries the surname of one of the founding families of Amherst.

East Pleasant straight , North Pleasant (on your left) Kendrick Park southern end (center)

East and North Pleasant intersection looking towards UMass, hotel behind house

University Lodge (owned by Curt Shumway)
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Final chance for public comment:

Saturday, 4/30 – Draft Plan Presentation

8:30–10:00 AM Review of Open House Results
10:00 AM–3:00 PM Finalize Plan
Finalize street design
Renderings and sketches
Finalize land use calculations
3:00–6:00 PM Printing & Powerpoint preparation
6:00 – 9:00 PM Draft Plan Presentation

ARA sets dates

At this evening's cordial meeting the Amherst Redevelopment Authority confirmed the upcoming public outreach orchestrated by American Communities Partnership designed to bring in opinions from ALL the stakeholders--not just those with backyards abutting ground zero.

Planning Director Jonathan Tucker declared anyone who shows interest in the Gateway Project is a stakeholder and will eventually be heard. If they can't make the intimate small group (up to ten people) meetings on April 12, 13 and 14, they can send "public comments" via mail or email to the planning department who will then forward to the consultant.

But ARA grande dame Peggy Roberts pointed out, they should be thinking of what would be overtly acceptable not just for now, but for the next fifty years.

While those initial three days of stakeholder interviews are by invite only and are not open, public meetings, the information gleamed will help set the agenda for the three-day charrette at the end of the month: April 28, 29 and 30th.

These meetings are wide open with the first one an all day affair--the design visioning workshop. On day two the consultants and town staff try to synthesize the input from day one and start to draft a vision, and on day three try to sharpen the vision focus.

At a joint meeting of the ARA and Planning Board sometime in mid-June the final draft from the consultants will be unveiled and in the last two weeks of their contract the consultants will be available for any final tweaks.

With the visioning process completed and a "desired outcome" targeted, the next vital phase consists of the action steps required to actually get us there. And in Amherst, the hardest part is overcoming the usual response: "you can't get there from here."

And the winner is....

Harry Brooks Registrar of Voters, Sandra Burgess Town Clerk (center)

Catherine Sanderson gracefully bids adieu

UPDATED: Town Meeting Results:

9:35 AM Wednesday morning

If "Blank" was an actual candidate he/she would have come in first place in all 10 precincts by wide margin. In all, 7,172 individual votes were cast among all ten precincts in town meeting 3 year category and a total of 4,623 left blank.

Precinct 1 (8 total for 3 year terms):
Louis Greenbaum
Diane Westfall
Kenton Tharp
Vincent O'Connor
Eric Nazar
Patricia Holland (runner up prize for not making Library Trustee)
Melissa Perot
Hilda Greenbaum (only beat 9th place finisher by 4 votes)

Precinct 2
Barbara Levine
Andrienne Levine
John Coull (also Chair of ARA)
James Pistrang
Barbara Ford
Daniel Clapp
Issac BenEzra
Two Year term: 0
One Year term: Edward Mientka

Precinct 3
Peter Gray-Mullin
Nancy Gregg
Nancy Buffone
Karen Marie Harrington
Jacqueline Churchill
Patrick MacWilliams
Lawrence Orloff

Precinct 4
John Stuart Nelson
Kay Moran
Baer Tierkel
George Ryan
Alan Powell
Two Year Term
Doris Holden
One Year Term
Mark Parent
Naomi Ossar

Precinct 5
Barry Federman
Pat Church
Jane Price
Nancy Pagano
Kevin Eddings
Kevin Noonan
James Oldham
Andrew Bohne
Two Year Term
Mary Wentworth
One Year Term
Katharine McGovern
Robert Saul

Precinct 6
Maralyn Blaustein
Elizabeth Welsh
Diana Spurgin
Jeff Blaustein
Richard Spurgin
Harry Brooks
Gordon Freed
Faythe Turner
One Year Term
Paul DiBenedetto
Amy Brodigan

Precinct 7
Ernest Dalkas
David Keenan
James Brassord
Kenneth Hoffman
Alice Swift
Harvey Allen
Andrienne Terrizzi
Two Year Term
Marylou Theilman
George Jeffrey Bohne

Precinct 8
(Mother) Mary Streeter
Kathleen Traphagen
Jenifer McKenna
Lise Halpern
Ruth Hooke
John Kick
Glen Bertrand
Elaine Fronhofer
One Year Term
Barry Roberts

Precinct 9
Dade Singapuri
Felicity Callahan
Otto Stein
Denise Barberet
Jessica Wilkinson
Emily Lewis
Jonathan O'Keeffe
Pamela Rooney
One Year Term
Stephen Schreiber

Precinct 10
Lewis Mainzer
Stephen Braun
Brett Butler
Jan Eidelson
Richard Bentley
Elissa Rubinstein
Hwei-Ling Greeney
Nancy Gordon
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UNOFFICIAL TOTALS (for the contested races):
Amherst Redevelopment Authority: Winner Aaron Hayden 880 to Vince O'Connor 504

Jones Library: (Major upset!) First Place: Chris Hoffman 832, Second place: Michael Wolff 665, Odd person out: Current Board of Trustees President Pat Holland with 660 (kind of like that overthrow in Egypt thing).

Voter turnout: A pathetic 8.5% (Think globally, ignore locally)

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8:39 PM
So far in the "heated" race for ARA, incumbent Aaron Hayden, with numbers from three out of 10 precincts (7,8 and 9) is winning by a 2-1 margin. Turnout is barely breaking double digits.

9:05 PM
Hayden wins precincts 2, 3 and 4 and combined it's probably by 2-1 total. Vince actually wins Precinct 1 (his home precinct) 48-42.

I am now projecting Aaron Hayden the winner. Go Gateway!

9:17 PM
For Library it's looking like the odd person out is not going to be out by much. Close 3-way race for the two seats (with 7 or 10 precincts reporting.)

9:21 PM
Looks like Chris Hoffman is in for one of the Jones Library seats but number two is close. Vince actually won another precinct: 2

Party Street of the Weekend: Phillips St.

10:30 AM

Amherst Police Department's crack down on rowdy students behavior continued this past weekend with an escalation of tactics: rather than issue $300 tickets for alcohol violation perps were arrested, cuffed and thrown in jail.

And with a shift to "sector" saturation greater police presence (both APD and UMass police) occurred all around the Gateway corridor--especially Phillips Street, Nuting Avenue and North Pleasant Street as well as the usual suspects, Hobart Lane and Sunset/Lincoln Avenues.

In all Amherst Police arrested over 25 college-age students rather than issuing a $300 ticket--mostly for "open container" and "underage drinking" violations. One more arrested for Driving Under the Influence and only one $300 ticket issued for "open container" and two for "noise" violations.

With a $10,000 state grant providing for additional police overtime, expect greater police presence on weekends between now and graduation.

Bad boys bad boys, whatcha going to do
whatcha going to do when they come for you?

A conflict over conflict of interest

clockwise: Peg Roberts, Larry Shaffer, Aaron Hayden, John Coull, Jonathan Tucker

If someone had not taunted me in town center on Thursday morning I would not have known to call the State Ethics Division to inquire about a complaint lodged against fellow Amherst Redevelopment Authority member Aaron Hayden who is also--coincidentally enough--up for reelection tomorrow.

The State Ethics Division is like the Secret Service or FBI when it comes to investigations, as they will not "confirm or deny" anything...however if you talk long enough, you can figure out if a complaint was filed.

Interestingly enough the next day (Friday 3/25) the Daily Hampshire Gazette published a Letter To The Editor from anti-Gateway kingpin, former Washington D.C. attorney, and neighbor to the potential development, John Fox supporting the ARA candidacy of rabidly anti-Gateway activist Vince O'Connor.

And in his lede Mr. Fox warns about "...potential conflicts that confront Aaron Hayden as a member of both the five-member Select Board and the five-member ARA, which have important overlapping issues." Hmm...

Ten years ago Select Board chair Carl Seppala was also an ARA member. And so much "conflict" existed at the time over ARA joint development with the town that the episode became known as "The Garage War." No complaints, however, about "conflict of interest" over Mr. Seppala's important dual roles.

A few months back sleeper activist Mary Wentworth publicly suggested Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe had conflicts of interest because her father John Coull is Chair of the ARA, and she lives on Butterfield Terrace within the Gateway's "neighborhood planning area."

Ms. O'Keeffe herself requested a State Ethics Division legal opinion and they concluded neither is a conflict of interest, which she publicly shared during a Select Board meeting. And, not surprisingly, the state recently found no conflict of interest exists with Mr. Hayden as well.

Disclaimer: Although I'm a longtime member of the ARA, Umass graduate, Continuing Education student and 5th generation Amherst resident, I speak here, as I always do, strictly for myself (and for the hard-pressed taxpayers of this town) using that cherished American ideal known as the First Amendment.

Hypocritical activist

Vince O'Connor posing for Rockwell

A dozen years ago forever activist Vince O'Connor filed a warrant article (one of the hundreds over the past thirty years) demanding Amherst town meeting take parcel C-3 in town center via eminent domain. At that time the Amherst Redevelopment Authority owned the property,having themselves taken it by eminent domain in the early-to mid-1970s.

Vince was a prime mover in the largest land taking in Amherst history--the 1987 taking of the Cherry Hill Golf Course--where town meeting heavy handedly used an "emergency measure" legal proviso to preclude voter referendum. Thus, as an ARA member (Governor appointed), I took his threat seriously.

The ARA had just completed a commercial appraisal ($350,000) as the final step in preparing a Request For Proposals for a private developer to do something economically constructive with the valuable property.

But things changed quickly when the town became serious about a parking garage. The ARA quickly voted to donate the prime piece to Amherst, with only one provision: the parking garage had to have the structural integrity to support another deck to enable future expansion.

Vince's proposal lost overwhelmingly on a voice vote and the rest as they say is history. And without the Boltwood Walk Parking Garage , millions of dollars in expansion, renovation and new backfill construction would never have happened--especially the new $4 million Boltwood Place mixed-use building immediately behind Judie's that broke ground a few weeks back.

Four years ago Mr. O'Connor was at it again; he filed a town meeting warrant article calling for "the abolishment of the ARA." Although strangely enough he concurrently ran for the open ARA seat in a stealth write-in campaign because no one had bothered to collect the 50 signatures required to get on the printed ballot.

I won the 5-year seat, which I currently hold, besting Vince 67-18.

Tuesday's election is going to be a snoozer, as voter turnout will be nothing if not lame (thanks mainly to Catherine Sanderson being bullied into not rerunning for School Committee).

Thus Mr. O'Connor stands a chance of getting close enough (McCarthy vs President Johnson 1968 New Hampshire primary) to use as public relations spin that Gateway is opposed by a significant percentage of voters, even though it will be a percentage of a tiny percentage of overall voters.

Mr. O'Connor staunchly opposes the Gateway Project, a development which will add significantly to the town's anemic commercial tax base, while he champions the redirection of ARA energies to creating a "Boys and Girls Club" or YMCA type recreation facility that will of course be tax exempt. Amherst is already half owned by tax exempts.

Having run a fitness facility in Amherst for 28 years I know all too painfully well that the recreation offerings in the area are now overly abundant--and with Planet Fitness around, they are also exceedingly cheap.

Recent entries include UMass $50 million Recreation Center, Central Rock Climbing Gym in Hadley (with a competitor already on the drawing board), a storefront Aerobics and Fitness Studio in east Amherst and former Leading Edge Gym diehards still pining to reopen somewhere (over the rainbow) plus the oldest surviving full-service club in the area, Hampshire Athletic Club.

Mr. O'Connor also points out that numerous buildings (two of them churches) are within the overall Gateway corridor area and, unlike the demolished Frat houses, do not fit the description of "blighted."

But no other property is needed other than the 1.8 acre former Frat Row that UMass is prepared to donate. If a $4 million, five story building can fit on 2,500 square feet postage stamp space behind Judie's, what can you erect on almost 80,000 square feet (thirty times larger) of perfectly graded property?

Future home of Boltwood Place

Future home of something spectacular

If Amherst cannot put aside its development phobia for a cause this outstanding, then what hope is there for any beneficial project with vision and class?

The Springfield Republican Reports

The Bulletin Reported:

Funny profile of Vince by Mary Carey

UMass community outreach on neighborhood stabilization

A site (visit) to behold

Frat Row: A wide expanse of flat open space in the perfect location, shovel ready

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority met principal vision consultants from American Communities Partnership both formerly at the Planning Department in Town Hall and informally at Judie's--my favorite downtown restaurant--and and then ambled along a site tour (both driving and on foot) of the general area that will someday--hopefully soon--transform the Gateway Corridor leading to UMass.Perhaps Friday was not the perfect day to get an idea of the true nature of the neighborhood as UMass is on Spring break so things were a lot quieter than normal, still the pros from ACP consulting were certainly able to get the physical lay of the land.

The main corridor easiest to define is North Pleasant street running along Frat Row with bookend churches, Mercy House on the southern end close to town center and the First Baptist Church at the northern end just before entering the main campus.

Mercy House Church

First Baptist Church

Stakeholder meetings with all the major players--immediate neighbors, UMass and Town officials, local business leaders, Town Meeting Coordinating Committee, League of Women Voters, etc--will start April 12 and conclude on April 14, setting the agenda for the wide-open interactive public event known as a charrette, now scheduled for April 28,29 and 30.

And since the two churches are well within the Gateway Corridor, one will probably be drafted as a convenient host site.


The Daily Collegian reports

Gateway: out of the gate, off and running

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority had a most productive meeting, including a brief 10 minute Executive Session to discuss property acquisition, that started this evening at 5:00 (instead of the usual 7:00) and wrapped up at 6:30.

ACP Visioning and Planning, awarded the four-month consulting contract only two weeks ago at our March 1st meeting (one of four bidders for the $30,000 contract), already demonstrates one reason they were chosen: A team will be in town all day this Friday for a series of work sessions with town planning staff, including a walking tour of the proposed main corridor (although an exact footprint is still to be determined) and formulating a list of stakeholders to include in the ultra-public process about to unfold.

The ARA is treating the walking tour of the possible impact area as a "site visit," which is a public meeting--so the general public may tag along--but no policy discussions or public comments will take place.

The old "Frat Row" at the main Gateway to UMass, 1.86 acres of prime real estate, is currently the only swath of land that is certain to be included in the final plan. UMass will donate the keystone piece to the ARA after state legislature approval. Senator Stan Rosenberg, one of the state's more powerful politicians, resides in Amherst and graduated from UMass/Amherst, our flagship institution of higher education.

In 2007 Alpha Tau Gamma, Inc. sold the property to UMass for $2.5 million and as part of the deal donated $500,000 the Stockbridge School of Agriculture endowment plus covered the $300,000 demolition/clean up costs. Since they were a private entity, in their final year of existence as infamous party houses they paid Amherst $60,000 in property taxes.

Since the Gateway Project will also be privately owned-and-operated, it could easily generate over a million dollars in annual tax revenues for our cash-strapped municipal coffers. Giddyup!

Party house of the weekend

Strangely enough there were none this weekend--or considering it was Spring Break week--perhaps not so strange. I bet Florida had more than its share. Although the previous weekend there were more than enough party hardy contenders for the award, so I'm sure at tomorrow's Amherst Redevelopment Authority meeting the subject will come up during Public Comment period as ammunition to torpedo the Gateway Project.

Downtown Deja Vu

Winter, 2011

Boltwood Place, a mixed use $4 million showcase, immediately behind Judie's restaurant and just in front of the Boltwood Walk Parking Garage is a downtown dream project about to come true for co-developer David Williams (who is also co-owner of that iconic restaurant.)

A dream that started over twenty five years ago with Amity Place, an ambitious $3.5 million dollar development only a stone's throw away, that failed in 1983 to garner the required two-thirds vote of Town Meeting necessary for a zoning change.

Williams, an architect, had assurances of a $1.4 million federal Urban Development Action Grant for a multi-level parking garage that would be blocked from view on Amity Street by upscale retail/office space and screened along the side by the Amherst Cinema and on South Prospect Street by eight plush condominiums--thus a forerunner of "mixed use," the current hot template for Amherst development.

So when Mr. Williams, a long-time Amherst resident, is quoted in the Springfield Republican saying, "We got so much good cooperation. This town has really changed," he is the quintessential voice of experience.

Gateway Project supporters hope these positive winds of change continue to blow...

Amity Place would have occupied the town owned metered parking lot and what is now Peoples Bank flush with the Amherst Cinema

ARA hires ACP for Gateway Corridor visioning

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority, lead agency in the ambitious Gateway reconstruction project connecting downtown Amherst to UMass, unanimously (5-0) choose ACP associates to lead the charge and orchestrate the "public visioning process"--a massive outreach to everyone concerned about the future of Amherst and our flagship institution of higher education.

ACP has extensive experience with the unique process of acquiring and curating public input to bring about consensus, especially difficult in Amherst ("where only the H is silent"); they have also successfully consulted on the arduous multi-year process for adoption of a new Amherst "Master Plan," the first major planning revision in 40 years.

They emphasized to the ARA how a major project like Gateway needs to be visionary, grounded in reality, supported by the community and--perhaps most important--implementable.