Vegetables to Offices

 0 University Drive abuts Newmarket Center

Amherst could get more office space, not that it seems there's pressing demand, if this large 5.8 acre tract of land near UMass on University Drive should sell.  Since it is zoned "office park" that kind of narrows down the options for development.

The Planning Board tried to change the zoning a few years back to a more diversified commercial designation but naturally the NIMBYs shot it down at Town Meeting, where a two-thirds vote is hard to muster.

The land is owned by Mohammad Idrees who purchased it for the bargain price of $22,000 back in 2003 at the Lincoln Pulp and Paper Company auction, with the original idea of building a Mosque.  Since Amherst is not overly flush with Muslims that plan went by the wayside and he briefly tried selling fresh vegetables.

 Mohammad Idrees and his vegetable stand  in 2008 (photo by Mary Carey)

The property has been in Ch61A for the past ten years, and much of it is wetlands, so it doesn't pay much of anything in taxes to Amherst ($94.00).   But the assessor estimates a $40,000 windfall to the town if it should sell for the $890,000 asking price and put to commercial use. 

But these days it seems anytime "open space" goes on the market neighbors simply petition the town to buy it using Other People's Money.

Added Flavor to the Downtown

Oriental Flavor, 25 South Pleasant Street.  Opening soon (hopefully)

The (low) Price of Peace & Quiet

 Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods department proposed budget (draft)

One of the sillier criticisms leveled at the Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods Working Group is that the body did not have a tenant as part of their genetic makeup.  Which is kind of like saying all gynecologists have to be women.

But the other concern I've heard voiced by a somewhat sensible center of impacted landlords (besides the #1 issue of a "permit") is that rookie Building Commissioner Rob Morra is "empire building" and his newly expanded empire will be expensive to maintain and unworkable with the burdensome workload.

So yes, while the overall proposed budget for the new Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods department seems high at $218,000 keep in mind that two thirds of that ($157,500) will be covered by "user fees" i.e. the $100 annual fee for landlords.

And with the median rent in Amherst now at $1,108 per month, landlords are going to have a tough time portraying $100/year as onerous.

Thus the real increase in costs to the operating budget is only $60,500 ... or about what the town spends annually subsidizing the game of golf.  

Those Daring Young Men

AFD Engine 1 and Amherst College PD are on the scene of a chimney fire at a house on Hitchcock Street, one of the few on that street not owned by Amherst College.  Command was terminated at 11:11 AM.

Orchard Valley Grows Again

36 Longmeadow Drive, Amherst

The house at 36 Longmeadow Drive, built back in 1970, has been demolished and crews are busy going about the construction of a new five bedroom house owned by CIL Realty using $232,000 federal tax subsidized monies to purchase the property and another $445,000 to build a new home.

Interestingly CIL put out a press release almost two years ago touting the $12 million MassDevelopment tax exempt bond issue to fund the acquisition of thirteen properties in eleven municipalities for the construction of community based group homes for the disabled.  What's interesting is Amherst was not on the list. 

Of course after the forever battle over Butternut Farm low income project only two doors down from the proposed group home, I can't say that I blame them for keeping things quiet.

According to Building Commissioner Rob Morra the construction project is pretty much immune from local zoning law due to the the "Dover Amendment".  So, for instance, the home will be allowed to house five unrelated occupants in violation of the towns usual cap of four. 

And because 36 Longmeadow Drive is now owned by a non-profit, tax exempt entity, the property could go off the tax rolls.

Butternut Farm, 12 Longmeadow Drive, Amherst

The Prosecution Rests

 Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods meeting 3/19

At their lucky 13th and final meeting, the Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods Working Group voted 12-1-1 to specifically add "bad behavior" as a legitimate reason for enforcement action under the proposed bylaw, which in the most egregious of cases can result in the revoking of a rental permit.

Obnoxiously loud disruptive party houses that erode the quality of life in Amherst neighborhoods far and wide are the main reason the Safe & Healthy Neighborhood Working Group came into being.

Although vociferous neighbors are still concerned the new General Bylaw -- if endorsed by the Town Manager and then Town Meeting -- will not be ironclad enough to solve their problems with unruliness.

 

Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek Chaired SHNWG

The Select Board will decide, obviously yes, at their April 8 meeting whether to place the new General Bylaw on the warrant for the Spring Town Meeting, where it will require a simply majority vote.  Over the years Amherst has flirted with rent control and rental registration, neither of which proved effective.

Although this time around, the seriousness of purpose is almost palpable.

Maurianne Adams still has reservations

Development Delayed

Map of proposed development (click to enlarge)


Due to a trivial paperwork error neighbors in North Amherst will get an extra couple weeks to raise the $6.6 million required to match the developer's offer via the town's "right of first refusal" that goes hand in hand with property protected by the state's Chapter 61A conservation law.

Last night the Select Board voted to send a letter to W.D. Cowls, Inc informing them of the bureaucratic boo boo and advising company president Cinda Jones that the 120 day clock has not started ticking.

NIMBYs have filed a petition article with Amherst Town Meeting calling for the use of eminent domain to take the property from Cowls to sabotage the land sale/development deal that will bring desperately needed, taxable student housing to Amherst with convenient access to UMass.

Proponents request Town Meeting appropriate only $1.2 million for the hostile taking, and it's unclear how the other $5.4 million would suddenly materialize.