ZBA Drones On

Crotty Hall rendering looking from the Northwest

As usual the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting last night went on for over four hours, and as is also somewhat usual they did not come to a final vote on any of the three major items discussed.  And you thought Amherst Town Meeting took forever!

First up was Stephan Gharabegian, arguably the most notorious absentee landlord in the town of Amherst.  Mr Gharabegian owns almost half the houses on Phillips Street, the most notorious street in Amherst.

33 Phillips Street

In this case he wishes to expand capacity for 33 Phillips Street, probably the most notorious house in all of Amherst.

The house is a 3-family unit meaning it can have 12 "unrelated" tenants.  But Mr. Gharabegian had, without official permit, refinished the basement for a 4th unit, thus increasing monthly rental income significantly.

And since the bootleg apartment had major health/safety violations -- no second means of egress in case of fire -- it came to the attention of Building Commissioner Rob Morra who shut down the basement apartment until the ZBA hears his case.

Which started on October 2, continued to November 6, continued to last night, and now continued yet again until June 11.

 Stephan Gharabegian addresses 3-member Zoning Board of Appeals last night

Neighbors repeatedly pointed out the detrimental impact that 33 Phillips has already had on the surrounding neighborhood (Fearing Street and Sunset Avenue) as a 3-family, so allowing it to become a 4-family will only make matters worse.

Besides, town officials should not be rewarding bad behavior, since the 4th unit was illegally created to begin with and only comes before the ZBA because he got caught.  Member Tom Ehrgood, waiving a police summary report, said the location was a "magnet for police attention."

The board was a little more receptive to another rental property with a less than sterling reputation, 164 Sunset Avenue.  They generally came to the conclusion that formalizing the house as a two family unit was reasonable, with some conditions that will be hammered out at the hearing continued to February 12.

The most surprising event of the night was a 2+ hour discussion (borderline heated) over Crotty Hall, a sleek new building proposed for 418 North Pleasant Street at the very gateway to UMass.

The Dover Amendment allows religious and educational institutes to pretty much run roughshod over local oversight except for the setback zoning requirements, which are enforced by the Building Commissioner.

In fact they are made even more stringent as the requirements in the Amherst Zoning Bylaw have to be doubled since educational and religious buildings are oftentimes HUGE and can be plopped down in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

In this case the designers did not realize that the 10 foot side setback touching Phillips Street needed to be doubled to 20 feet.  But the Amherst Building Commissioner did. 

Gordon & Crotty Hall. Dotted line top right Phillips Street property

Thus the building was totally designed, at a current investment of $222,000 (85% of which is lost if the building requires redesign), with a 10 foot side setback in mind.  Neighbors on Phillips Street are not happy.  The ZBA is caught in the middle.

Neighbors also complained that the twin building, Gordon Hall, has a noisy HVAC system that drives them crazy from April until October, and the new building will be much closer to them.

Sounding troubled, ZBA Chair Eric Beal said, "This is a hard case for me.  You relied on the 10 foot setback in good faith."

The proposed building is named for Jim and Pam Crotty, who have lived in Amherst for 40 years.

Mr. Crotty, UMass Professor Emeritus of Economics and Sheridan Scholar, spoke about bringing faculty who now work in Thompson Hall to the new building to work alongside colleagues in Gordon Hall:  "It would be superb to get this synergy between faculty and grad students."

Two members of the ZBA, Mark Parent and Tom Ehrgood, seemed convinced the extra intrusion into Phillips Street was not  "unreasonable", especially since the main UMass campus is only a snowball throw away.

Chair Eric Beal was not 100% convinced, however, and wished to see "renderings" of the new building.

The board took a five minute break so architect Sigrid Miller Pollin could pull them up from her computer.  But when the meeting resumed the renderings only showed the impact from North Pleasant Street and not from Phillips Street.

The appeal hearing was continued until February 12.  The building plan will also need review by the Amherst Planning Board for a Site Plan Approval.

Welcome Back Students!

 164 Sunset Avenue, 12:45 PM Friday (must be liquid lunch)

Well, maybe not these particular students.  Or this particular address. 

A Ray of Hope

 Sunset Avenue:  A Street On The Brink

Six years ago in testimony before our Zoning Board on a hearing to allow a house to become a fraternity, neighbors described Phillips Street, the street contiguous with our number one employer UMass, as being at a "tipping point", with almost half the homes on the street owned by absentee landlords renting mostly to students.

Today eight-out-of-nine houses are non owner occupied, and Phillips Street is the slum capital of Amherst.

So I hate it when residents of nearby Lincoln Avenue and Sunset Avenue describe their bucolic residential neighborhood as being at a "tipping point," which indeed they are.  And I fear that they too will go the way of Phillips Street.

While enforcement of nuisance house bylaws is only one component of the "safe and healthy neighborhood" initiative, it is a vital one.  And I firmly believe it is making a difference.

But everyone needs to do their part.  As with the war on terror: if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

#####

Dear Resident of Sunset Avenue,

I graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in May 2012. While a student at UMass I lived at 164 Sunset Avenue during the fall of 2011. 

I am writing to you to apologize for my role in the public disruptions that came from my house last fall, and the ensuing problems they may have caused you and your family.

To give you some background, I moved into 164 Sunset Avenue because it was the most affordable off-campus living option I could find at the time ($350/month). As someone who financed their own education, I did not have many economically feasible options for off-campus housing. 

Moreover, as someone who did not own a car, the house’s location and its proximity to campus was appealing to me. Unfortunately, I only knew one resident in the house before I moved in, and I soon learned that it was a “party house.”

My decision to move into this house still pains me to this day. Most notably, because of the night I was arrested. On this night, I was in my bedroom in the basement watching a movie with a friend. Upstairs, my roommates had company (as they usually did) and were playing loud music.

While in my bedroom I heard a knock at the backdoor. This person turned out to be a police officer. He asked me if I lived in the house, to which I responded yes. He then requested that I step outside to speak to him. I obliged, not entirely sure of what was going on. Immediately, he arrested me for a noise violation.

After my arrest, I was so worried that I could again get in trouble for something my roommates did that I slept on a friend’s futon for the remainder of the semester, in order to avoid any possible future problems. When the fall semester I ended, I immediately found someone to sublet my room to, and I finished my senior year in a dorm on campus. 

I am writing to you over a year after the incident occurred because time passed has provided time for reflection. Despite not playing an active role in the partying that came from my house, I did not play an active role in stopping it. Perhaps if I did, I would not have been arrested, and you would have had a quieter street.

Moreover, as a resident of 164 Sunset I was equally responsible for what took place inside my house, and because of this I owe you and your family an apology.
 
I hope you accept this letter of apology on behalf of my roommates and I, and I wish you the best as Amherst Police continue their crackdown on rowdiness. As someone who lived on Sunset Avenue I know how difficult it can be.

Hopefully, my letter of apology offers some kind of solace or at the very least an empathetic perspective from a former UMass student.

Regards,

Former Resident of 164 Sunset Avenue

164 Sunset Avenue, in the shadow of UMass

 Follow me

Party Houses of the long Weekend

132 Northampton Road, Amherst 

In spite of the mass exodus for the first l-o-n-g weekend of the semester, Amherst police were kept busy all over town dealing with the usual byproducts of too much alcohol:  noise, nuisance and the potentially lethal, Driving Under the Influence.

But not all the party houses citations were a result of students.  Take for instance, 132 Northampton Road where one of the occupants called a responding APD officer "honey" and that he was "going back inside because I don't have time for this."

Well, he ended up making time for it -- lots of time (at 1:33 AM), as he and three other friends were arrested for violating the town's noise bylaw.

Jeff Keedy, 54 Amity Place, Amherst, Ma, age 28

Keith Toffling, 132 Northampton Rd, Amherst, Ma, age 30
Daniel Shimlaus, 19 Stearns Ln, Sudbury, Ma, age 21
Michael Borgenieht, 4 Saddle Ridge Rd, Dover, Ma, age 20

164 Sunset Avenue, Amherst

 

My next "winner", 164 Sunset Avenue, (practically touching Southwest Towers, UMass) is a repeat offender. The house, not this particular resident.

As police arrived at 12:34 AM early Sunday morning two young ladies leaving the party boasted they were underage, and the remaining 150 guests were not as anxious to leave, requiring 15 minutes for officers to clear.

And even then the large throng of partiers required addition police units to clear from Sunset Avenue. Arrested for Noise and Nuisance House violations:
Erik Brown, 20 Keith Drive, Norton, Ma, age 22

36 Hallock Street, Amherst town center

As police were moving along a crowd of college aged patrons attending this party, I overheard one young lady say to her friend, "Oh well, from Hallock Street to North East Street." Because sure enough, the police were breaking this one up relatively early for a Friday night (12:21 AM).

And sure enough, an hour later APD broke up a party at 30 North East Street with over 200 "guests". But the host was a lot more cooperative with police, so he only received a $300 noise ticket rather than the four more obstinate party hosts at 36 Hallock Street.

Arrested for noise:
Jeffery Larnard, 13 Carpenter St, Amesbury, Ma, age 21
John Oshea, 25 Douglas Rd, Dracut, Ma, age 22
Molly Stevens, 23 Albright, W. Roxbury, Ma, age 22
Benjamin Chase, 58 Bridge St, Hatfield, Ma, age 22

"There's a killer on the road" gallery:

Stopped for operating without headlights (at 1:29 AM) and subsequently failing a FST (field sobriety test) on South Pleasant Street (about 500 yards from my house):

Christopher David Mackey, 245 Potwine Lane, Amherst, Ma, age 22, DUI

3:35 AM stopped for erratic driving and subsequently failed FST.  Found to be repeat offender.

Jose Ernesto Moreno, 22 Yale St, South Hadley, Ma, age 38, DUI 2nd offense.

Labor Day weekend rap up

Besides issuing $300 noise violation tickets after arresting three party hardy types at #164 Sunset Avenue, the Amherst Police Department also arrested and fined 13 young offenders for what seems to be the most common alcohol violations in a college town where college is in session: "Liquor. Person under 21 possession," and "Open container."

And since these laws are fairly uniform nationwide, it's hard to argue "I didn't know."

APD busted another party apartment at Meadow Street Townhouse Apartments (scene of many past riots) under the noise ordinance with three arrested and each fined $300. The most serious violation concerning alcohol--Operating Under the Influence--only had one offender, but it only takes one to cause untold damage.

APD also distributed another dozen or so warnings for noise violations.

They're Back: Party House Pre-Madonnas

Amherst Police Department 111 Main St

So I knew it was going to be an interesting "Party House of the Weekend" selection process this morning when the weekend police logs ran 49 pages compared to the usual 18 or 19, and the parking space directly in front of APD was occupied by an empty Bud Light beer can.

But even with these fortuitous foreshadowing facts, this week's winner still stands out for, well, stupidity. Stranger still, the ages of these party boys clearly indicate they are not newbie freshman. I guess it's going to be a l-o-n-g semester.

I'll let the log entries speak for themselves:

164 Sunset Avenue. Current assessment $428,000

#####################################
Noise Complaint: Gone on Arrival
164 Sunset Avenue
2:00 AM (early Saturday morning)


Assist Citizen: Services Rendered
164 Sunset Avenue
9:44 AM Saturday

RP (reporting party) called to advise for the last three days running, the new occupants of #164 Sunset have been noisy, both from loud stereos and voices of people standing out in the front yard. Mr. H stated that several times, groups of students have walked down the street past his house, yelling and joking, headed toward the Fraternity house at #118 Sunset. He believes that they have found nothing going on or were turned away and then walk back up the street and end up in the yard at #164. He stated that these groups of students then wind up outside and inside #164 making noise until 3:00 AM. Mr. H also related that there is now a swath of trash in the roadway and lawn of the residences along this route. He noted beer bottles and cans and cups, etc. I advised Mr. H that his concerns would be brought to the attention of the Officers that work in this sector and that enforcement activities would be brought to bear on the residents of this location.

Assist Citizen: Services Rendered
164 Sunset Avenue
11:57 AM
I received an email from Mrs H relative to the noise and students congregating in the yard at 164 Sunset Avenue. She reports that the new tenants of that residence have produced a great deal of noise and foot traffic in the area for the last three nights running. She states that two of the residents did come to the house to speak with her relative to their noise issues and these persons requested Mrs H call them when problems arose. Mrs H did call these residents twice overnight about the noise problem, each time some effort was made by the residents to quell the noise and disperse the students gathered on the front lawn. Each time the noise and problem did return within a short time. Mrs H reports that the residents of the house are planning to have a party the evening of 09/04 but have promised to end the gathering at 10:00 PM. Mrs H does not believe that the residents have the ability to control the party. She is also concerned about the altercations that were heard brewing but does not believe any fights took place overnight. She also mentions trash, beer cans and bottles thrown in the street and in front of the building by persons drinking on the front lawn.

Community Policing. Services Rendered
164 Sunset Avenue
8:00 PM

I stopped and spoke with the residents of #164 Sunset Avenue. I provided them with the TBL (town bylaw) information sheets, my business card, and a thorough description of what the by-laws were meant to deter, and how enforcement was going to be meted out. I asked if they had any questions as to what was going to happen to them. They had none.

Noise Complaint. Adults Arrested
164 Sunset Avenue
10:15 PM
RP reports loud party at location.

Three residents arrested from listed location for violation of TBL noise. Loud party when Officers arrived. Approximately 40+ guests at house. Many college aged and consuming alcohol.

Arrested:

XXXXXXX, 164 Sunset Avenue, Amherst,MA, age 22
Zachary Wilgus, 164 Sunset Ave, Amherst, MA, age 21
Thomas Griffin, Westchester Rd, Jamaica Plain, MA age 21