Making The North Common Uncommon

From above the North Common looks more like a forest

North Common is a square island of green bordered by concrete on all sides

A dozen citizens turned out last night for the public hearing concerning the North Common, which outgoing Amherst Historical Commission Chair Mike Hanke deemed "forgotten territory," but he also pointed out it's "the centerpiece of our town."

 Only 1 downtown business person attended

Discussion centered around making the area "more inviting," like Sweetser Park which is wide open, sunny and has the beautiful Cook Fountain as a centerpiece.

 Sweetser Park was laid out by Amherst Town Common designer Frederick Law Olmsted and his son did the final design implementation

North Common does have a historic 1904 water fountain donated by Young Women's Temperance Union, but it is broken

The Public Shade Tree Committee attended and lamented the condition of many of the trees due to soil erosion and heavy foot traffic in and around exposed roots.

 The most ailing maple will need to have lights removed before it can be taken down safely

 Current Merry Maple (rt) is healthy

At least three trees -- including the oldest and largest in the center of the North Common are ailing and could come down in the near future, whether the town does renovations to the North Common or not.

 Biggest tree on the North Common (125+ years old) is not doing well

 Railroad ties used to box in trees are rotting

At least two other trees were planted as "living memorials", one -- a Tulip tree -- for former Town Manager Allen Torrey and the other a Norway Maple planted by the Valley Peace Center in 1969 to remember "casualties of the Vietnam war."

  Tulip tree planted for Amherst's first official Town Manager,  Allen Torrey

Unlike trees, plaques will be easy to move

The town will be applying for a PARC grant within the next three weeks and should hear back by the Fall.  Other than necessary tree removal the renovation of the North Common is dependent on the grant, which reimburses the town 70% of the cost.  

Town was turned down three years ago for such a grant proposal of $500,000

Drainage problems near town center and antiquated electricity hook up

Anyone who runs their own business will agree, "You only get one chance to make a good first impression."  The North Common is indeed the centerpiece of our town -- and has been for 140 years. 

Grant or no grant, it's time for a sprucing up.  Let's put a smile on the face of Amherst. 

Variety of Alleged Assaults

Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown

In addition to handling arraignments for arrests from Amherst and other local police departments (and State PD) a District Court Judge also routinely hears parole violations, magistrate appeals over civil motor vehicle violations and 258E restraining orders.

On Monday morning  Robert Chiado was arraigned before before Judge John Payne on the scary sounding charge of a"assault and battery with a dangerous weapon", an ax.  Although at his arraignment the Assistant District Attorney told the Judge, "It was just a threat, there was no active use of the ax."

Robert Chiodo, age 47, stands before Judge John Payne

He was arrested early Saturday morning for threatening two individuals with the ax after he drove his truck close to them on State Street and one of them slapped the truck with his hand. Right out of a horror movie Chiodo pulled over, exited his vehicle brandishing the ax.

He spent the next two nights at the Hampshire County Jail in Northampton but was released by Judge Payne on his own recognisance and will appear again in Court on July 21.  As he was being released the Judge's assistant asked the prosecution if there were "56A allegations" to which he replied "no."

So I was a little surprised when I returned for my public document request a few hours later and was told the police "Statement of Facts" had been "impounded."  Turns out it had nothing to do with the new 56A law, which forbids any release of information regarding "domestic abuse," but simply because one of the victims was a juvenile.

I asked why the Clerk's office couldn't simply redact the one name but was told that's not the way it works.

After Mr. Chiodo was being led out of the "lock up" on the side of the court room, Judge Payne transitioned to a 258E protection order and all eyes shifted to the front of the room where most Court business is transacted.

A gentleman introduced himself politely to Judge Payne and stated he was from the US Attorney's Office representing the Department of Homeland Security.

He basically told the Judge he was present today to ensure no special agent's testify in the case now before the Judge because the Department of Homeland Security had not yet completed their investigation and had not issued permission for any of their employees to testify.

The Judge had issued an emergency harassment order last week to a woman and today's hearing was for an extension of that Court order.  A female agent had sought protection against a male agent for bad behavior occurring at their 1550 Main Street office in Springfield.

She had brought with her another special agent from the same office to testify as a witness, and the male defendant had another "local attorney" assigned to him by the Department of Justice who told the Judge he simply wanted this hearing "continued."

He was working to get the matter transferred to a Federal Court.

Judge Payne continued the hearing until July 21 but did extend until then the 258E protection order -- no contact, no abuse, and "stay away" at least 100 yards.

One of the attorney's confirmed the defendant had been transferred from the Springfield to the Hartford office until the matter is resolved. 

I guess this shows the Department of Homeland Security is pretty much like any workplace in America.  With the 14th anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching, not an overly comforting thought.

Finally: More Housing

Presidential Apartments are located in the shadow of UMass/Amherst

The long permitted (1966) expansion of Presidential Apartments, an 85 unit complex built in the 1960s, is taking shape as 8 of the 9 new buildings are now up.

This expansion will add 54 units of badly needed housing, 12 one-bedroom and 42 two-bedroom.

In addition -- even more desperately needed -- six of those units will be "affordable," thus adding to the town's Subsidized Housing Index which currently stands at just over 11%.

If the town should fall below 10% it would then open up the possibility of a Chapter 40B housing development that bypasses local zoning ordinances as long as the project is 20% "affordable."

This will be the first project that results in affordable units built under the town's ten year old Inclusionary Zoning Article 15, which mandates 10% of units in a development requiring a Special Permit must be "affordable."

According to property manager Pat Kamins,  "All 54 units should be on line for move in on 9/1/15."

Click to enlarge

How Green Was My Common

North Common bordered by S. Pleasant, Spring, Main streets & Boltwood Ave

The town is hosting a community forum this evening seeking input from the general public about ideas for improvements to the North Common, that historic square of green space nestled between Town Hall and downtown Merchants Row.

Three years ago town officials floated a half million dollar project to improve the highly visible public space but the state turned down the 70% funding match request, although giving the proposal high marks.

The town will again be applying to Parkland Acquisitions & Renovations for Communities grant program for the vast majority of the funding with the balance coming from Community Preservation Act funds.

Close Call On Final School Day

AFD ambulance escorted new bus returning children to Fort River Elementary School

Amherst Police and Fire personnel responded swiftly this afternoon to multiple 911 calls reporting a school bus with children careening into a utility pole on Henry Street, North Amherst with live wires down in the roadway.

The first ambulance on scene quickly reported what everybody waited breathlessly to hear:   no injuries.

AFD & APD responding to North Amherst for school bus into utility pole with wires down (children aboard bus, but no reports of injury).

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) June 22, 2015

A mass casualty incident would have overwhelmed AFD as they had two ambulances out on other medical calls at the time, so only four responders remained to handle the bus accident, two on the ambulance and two on Engine 2. 

Dispatch called Eversource (formerly WMECO) requesting a "Priority One Response" to the scene and they too arrived post haste.  The schools sent a second bus to pick up the 18 children and return them to Fort River Elementary School. 

Police shut down Henry Street to allow the electric company to initiate repairs and Amherst Towing came to retrieve the bus, which had front end damage.

School Facilities Director Ron Bohonowicz was also called to the scene and from initial reports it sounded like there could have been a mechanical problem with the bus.  The bus was a contract bus operated by "Five Star," and not one of the town owned buses.

The bus was in the final leg of of its route (Schools had a half-day), about 20 minutes from completion when the accident occurred.  The driver was not cited at the scene. 

Searingly Powerful Symbols

Belchertown Civil War monument, Town Common

The two hour public hearing in the quaint little college town of Amherst regarding the flying of 29 commemorative flags in the heart of the downtown had a particularly dramatic moment: a UMass professor branded the flag, "A symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression ... it's nothing to be proud of."

And no, she was not talking about the Confederate battle flag.

Ironically enough terrorism, death, fear and destruction would rain down from the brilliant blue skies only 12 hours later, the worst foreign attack on American soil in the entire history of our nation.  But that was almost 14 years ago, and life goes on.  For us. 

Because of my -- some would argue "in your face" -- insistence the commemorative American flags be allowed to fly every 9/11 to honor and remember the 3,000 slaughtered that day, a "deal" was brokered.  

Kind of like the deal brokered in South Carolina to move the Confederate battle flag from the State Capital building to a nearby historic monument.

Select Board Chair Gerry Weiss proposed they be allowed up once every three years to reflect the shameful 2007 Town Meeting vote that rejected my request by a two-thirds majority.  So in 2009 they did fly in the downtown. 

But then it occurred to new Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe that the restrictive deal would prevent the flags from flying on the 10th and 20th anniversary.  

So when I went to the Select Board in 2010 with my annual request, not only did they say "no" (although two-of-five voted "yes") to that year, but they then changed the "once every three years" to once every five for "milestone anniversaries".

So that's why the commemorative American flags are not allowed to fly this coming 9/11, but will fly next year on the 15th anniversary of that awful morning.

Simply because the politicians seem to think there's still a (significant) number of citizens who could agree with the UMass professor from all those years ago.   

It's time to change both those deals brokered over the flying of flags.

Can We Talk?

Sunderland and Montague Road branch off after intersection of Pine/Meadow/North Pleasant

The town is sponsoring an open forum on Wednesday night seeking input about redesigning the funky intersection of five roads all converging in the North Amherst Village Center.  And of course any improvement in infrastructure could lead to, gasp, increased development.

Thus the NIMBY/BANANA crowd will be out in force issuing the standard warning shot across the bow about "student housing".  As in, can't have any of that.

Form Based Zoning would have allowed denser developments in our Village Centers, exactly where the town's Master Plan said they should occur.   But it was defeated -- TWICE -- in Town Meeting, although both times garnering well over a majority vote.

Only a year later the nefarious impact was felt as the state turned down our $4 million MassWorks grant proposal to rebuild Pine Street, a main thoroughfare serving North Amherst.

 Pine Street connects North Amherst Village Center with "historic" Cushman Village

One of the main criteria for state grant funding is future "economic development." And without Form Based Zoning helping to stimulate that, the state decided North Amherst was not going to see a lot of development in the future, and therefor not worthy of their $4 million investment. 

Although at least one developer continues to swim against the tide.

Cinda Jones went ahead anyway with the 12,000 square foot Trolley Barn, the first new mixed-use building in North Amherst in a generation.   And the wider area know as The Mill District continues to attract high end operations like Atkins Country Market. 

Trolley Barn:  12,000 square foot, three-story mixed use (residential/commercial) building

But rather than subdividing a 4,000 square foot floor  into smaller more efficient living quarters for additional people, because of the current antiquated zoning she can only market them as two "luxury apartments".  (Or perhaps a bowling alley)

 Atkins North opening in August

Even more ominously those narrow zoning defeats occurred back in the Fall of 2011 and Spring of 2012.  Since then two "citizen zoning petitions" that would have effectively detonated a dirty bomb in downtown business district both garnered MORE THAN A MAJORITY of Town Meeting support this past Spring.

So whatever solutions the group discussion comes up with Wednesday evening for badly needed infrastructure improvements to North Amherst Village Center, "the dirty hands district", safe bet they go nowhere when it comes to execution.

Because our current form of government allows -- some would say "encourages" -- a minority of vociferous opponents to torpedo any meaningful development.

Cowls Building Supply celebrated 35 years in business yesterday.  One of the few brights spots for North Amherst commercial activity and founding business in the Mill District.   

A Different Taste?

Taste of Amherst Thursday 6:45 PM

Next year on the 25th silver anniversary of the Taste of Amherst food offerings may not quite be the same as they have since inception.  As in, no fresh fried food on site. 

Because of a relatively new law that requires open air fryolaters to have an (expensive) fire suppression system, like they do inside a bricks-and-mortar restaurants, their use at the Taste of Amherst will cease next year.  Currently six venders out of 21 use fryolaters.

 Click to enlarge/read

 Assistant Chief Don McKay Statement

When it comes to the Taste of Amherst, an iconic culinary event the town is justifiably proud of, cooperation from all stakeholders is key.  Perhaps the main reason the Taste has been a huge success all these years.   (Besides the great food of course.)

But nothing is more paramount than public safety.

Town Meeting recently approved spending $10,000 for "spider boxes" to mitigate electrical chord chaos that ensues on the Town Common with major events like The Taste.  Because electricity can be a dangerous thing.

Anyone who has ever experienced a grease fire knows how explosively scary they are.  Mix in a multitude of untrained civilians near combustible tents, and you have a recipe for disaster.

 Fryolators are segregated off in their own enclosed area (not under a tent)

The Chamber of Commerce will meet with town officials at the conclusion of this year's Taste to cook up a firm plan for next year, which could include appealing AFD's interpretation of the law to the State Fire Marshal or simply requesting restaurants not offer food that requires a fryolator.

Venders could also fry food at their regular establishment and then ferry it to the Town Common.  

AFD Fire Prevention Plan for this year's Taste of Amherst 

Taste of Amherst Friday 5:45 PM

Everybody Into The Pool(s)

War Memorial Pool, located next to Amherst Regional High School

The 60 year old centrally located War Memorial Pool, aka the "big pool", will open tomorrow and next week Mill River out in North Amherst follows suit.

The "little pool" located next to War Memorial was ripped up over the winter and now is but a hard brown circular patch that would make a great UFO landing zone.

Former location of wading pool

Mill River Pool opens Saturday June 27

Groff Park Wading Pool will also open next week for its final season (It too will become a UFO landing zone)

The central sprinkler was removed a few years ago at Groff Park over safety concerns

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)

Parking Report

Not hard to find parking on a Sunday morn after UMass lets out

Senior Town Planner Jeff Bagg has become the de facto Parking Czar having helped organize three public forums on the issue over the past year co-sponsored by the Select Board, keepers of the public way, and the Planning Board.

 On Monday night he presented a "draft report" to the Select Board thus kick starting a process that will hopefully lead to solutions that can be implemented in our lifetime.

 Jeff Bagg presenting parking study draft report to Amherst Select Board

By far finding #1 was "Begin planning process for new parking facility now" with 84% of respondents supporting the question (all of them drivers no doubt).  The other major finding is for the town to figure out a way to "maximize the efficiency and availability of existing parking supply."

 Click to enlarge/read

And the key suggestion is to do both simultaneously, since constructing a parking garage takes more time than some downtown businesses have to spare.  The "100 years war" was named after the first fiasco erecting the Boltwood Parking Garage 15 years ago. 

Existing parking lot behind CVS is perfect spot, but half privately owned

De Facto Monopoly?

The lucrative cable license for Comcast expires in October, 2016 so the town has revived the Cable Advisory Committee, kind of like locust that spends most of their life time in hibernation before noisily coming back to life.  

The Committee met yesterday for the 1st time in almost ten years.  Town Manager John Musante and legal consultant, Boston attorney Peter Epstein, also attended.  Epstein told the committee he was the attorney who wrote the cable agreement 3 cycles ago in the mid-1980s.

 Kris Pacunas was voted Chair

Since cable franchise is such a special field we are not using our regular town attorney from the firm of Kopelman & Paige.  Mr. Epstein is being paid $200/hour and will probably cost in the neighborhood of $20,000 total.

 Attorney Epstein (2nd from left) meets with Cable Advisory Committee 6/16

This year the contract is worth $6.3 million to Comcast and the town's 5% cut comes to $317,000 so not a lot of money to spend making sure the town doesn't get taken to the cleaners in the next contract.

Amherst provides 7,000 total subscribers, the vast majority of them using cable TV -- but that number also includes Internet and phone subscribers, which does not provide any revenue to the town.

 Virtually all of the money ($317,000)  generated by the 5% cut  -- which attorney Epstein said is "written in stone" -- goes to local cable access entity, Amherst Media.

The money issue that could be a tad more negotiable is the one-time payment for "technology upgrade."  At the start of the previous ten-year contract that came to $450,000.  

The current contract expires in October of 2016 but the renewal could theoretically be signed early.  Right now the job of the Cable Advisory Committee is to perform "ascertainment", in other words what do the subscribers want, aka a wish list?  Unfortunately cost of service and programming is not negotiable. 

Cable Advisory member Adrienne Terrizzi said "raising awareness" is, for now,  job number one.

The Amherst Select Board is the final authority and state/federal law mandates at least one Public Hearing which attorney Epstein suggested should happen after Labor Day.  He would like to send Comcast the initial contract by November 1st and they then have two months to respond.

That triggers an additional four months of "negotiations," which hopefully result in a contract both parties can live with prior to October, 2016.  The RFP is specifically written for Comcast and is not a general RFP that could be bid on by Verizon, Charter or any other provider.

Since Comcast owns all the infrastructure required to serve Amherst it is unlikely any other company would want to come in and try to replicate that.

The Internet is not only killing newspapers but cable TV as well, so the next contract (be it 5 or 10 years) could be less lucrative with each passing year. 

DUI Do Over

Richard Sherwood stands before Judge Payne ... again

Richard Sherwood, age 30, was arraigned before Judge John Payne on Monday morning for a drunk driving arrest in Amherst on Saturday night May 9th.  Or perhaps I should say "rearraigned."

 Originally Mr. Sherwood was charged with "OUI 3rd offense" and as it turns out that was his 4th offense!  And when it comes to the American system of justice, details are important.

Sherwood was released on the original $5,000 bail he posted five weeks ago and the conditions remain the same:  no driving, use of a sobrietor, and report to probation officer twice per week.  His case was continued until July 13.

DUI Dishonor Roll

Amherst Police intercepted two drunk drivers on both ends of Saturday, one in the very early morning hours (what most of us would consider late Friday night) and the other one very late Saturday night just before the bewitching hour.

 Geeth Gulavita, age 21, stand before Judge Payne

Click to enlarge/read

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday morning both men were arraigned before Judge John Payne.  Both had their cases continued to July 14.

 Jeffery Lowe arraigned before Judge Payne

Click to enlarge/read

Just Say NO (To No Parking)

Lincoln Avenue/Amity Street intersection outskirts of town center

The Amherst Select Board meeting was invaded last night by a brigade of concerned Lincoln Avenue residents upset about the initial proposal to ban parking along both sides of their street.

Almost all of them agreed there were problems at the Amity Street/Lincoln Avenue intersection and Gaylord Street/Lincoln Avenue, mainly with sight lines.

But those remedies should only impact the immediate area around those intersections and not the length of the entire road which connects Northampton Road (Rt 9) to UMass Amherst, the largest employer in town.

Click to enlarge/read

 Proposed parking scenario widely panned by residents

By removing parked cars entirely neighbors fear it will increase speed along their street by commuters enroute to UMass.

And many of them pointed out they have small driveways and the on-street parking is needed for visiting friends and family.

Concerned neighbors pack Select Board hearing (eleven spoke, all of them opposed)

The Select Board, keepers of the public way, seemed almost embarrassed by the controversy.  Connie Kruger said it was "premature to vote on this", that it required a "more comprehensive look," and the town should go "back to the drawing board."

 Gaylord/Lincoln Avenue intersect

The Select Board wisely retreated and continued the public hearing until their next meeting July  27.  (During the summer months the Select Board meets infrequently).

Here Comes The Solar

Robsham Visitor's Center

Work has begun on the nifty new solar parking lot canopies -- the first of their kind in our area --at the Robsham Visitor's Center parking lot across the street from Haigis Mall in the heart of UMass campus.

The solar units will cover six rows of parking spaces, producing a total of .576 megawatts of electricity. In addition UMass will install three Level Two dual charging stations for electric vehicles to plug in.

The town of Amherst, as part of their "green initiative" is installing a charging station in the lower level of the garage for the town's electric vehicle and a duel system for the general public in the parking lot behind Town Hall.

The Town Manager is also going on a fishing expedition by preparing a broadly worded Request For Proposals for companies to use town property for solar installations. Of course if NIMBYs see ye old landfill mentioned they will be quick to pull the plug by threatening yet another lawsuit.

Anyone remember when going "green" simply meant nice plantings?

 Town Hall greenspace

Amherst Police station plantings