Affordable Housing Baby Steps

Hawthorne Farm from a backyard view

The Housing & Sheltering Committee voted unanimously this morning to move forward with the plan to issue a Request For Proposal to build an affordable housing duplex at Hawthorne Farm, volunteering two of their current members -- Nancy Gregg and Denise LeDuc -- for the "selection committee" that will be appointed by Town Manager John Musante.

 

Amherst Housing & Sheltering Committee

Amherst Town Meeting approved spending $500,000 three years ago using Community Preservation Act money to purchase the farm, for "the purposes of Open Space, Recreation, and/or Community Housing" "  although many people seemed to think it was mainly for soccer fields.

 

Hawthorne Farmhouse 235 East Pleasant Street

Ideally historical preservation would also have come into play by restoring the late 1700s farmhouse for use as affordable housing, but a structural integrity analysis proved the renovation cost too prohibitive.

Thus the farmhouse and barn (circa 1890s) will be demolished in the next 8 to 10 weeks. In 2010 the Historical Commission imposed a one year demolition delay on the town but that is the maximum extent of their power when it comes to preserving structures. 

 

Hawthorne Farm Barn

The Housing & Sheltering Committee tried to be flexible in their recommendations for a potential developer by not requiring the project to acquire a Special Permit from the Zoning Board,  be owner occupied, handicapped accessible or LEED certified.   Any and all of these, however, would be considered "highly advantageous." 

In other unanimous votes the committee agreed to support Article 18 the Planning Board "tweak" of mixed-use buildings zoning in Village Centers at the upcoming Town Meeting.  Conversely, they quickly voted to oppose Article 19, the citizen petition article that reverses the spring Town Meeting passage of mixed use zoning, which encourages badly needed development.

By rolling back the minimum number of units to only six from the current 10, developers of reasonably sized projects would be forced to acquire a Special Permit, which requires a unanimous vote of the Zoning Board.

Other town officials and spectators in the audience

The Housing & Sheltering Committee also voted unanimously to support the Planning Board's Article 14, a zoning initiative that makes it easier to build a duplex as long as one unit is permanently "affordable."

All zoning articles require a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting to pass.

The Committee also placed on the agenda for their next meeting (Oct 23) a discussion of the Amherst Housing Authority cut back on the value of individual Section 8 vouchers for low-income residents, but made it clear they were not going to take an official position on it.

Select Board liaison Alisa Brewer, in a motherly sort of way, said to the Housing & Sheltering Committee:  "You have no authority over the AHA."  Although their member Denise LeDuc is the Executive Director of the AHA.

Co-Chair Nancy Gregg thought the low income voucher situation should be an item for discussion (but not an actionable vote) to send the clear message, "We care about it."

7 acre Hawthorne Farm property outlined in yellow is contiguous with Wildwood Elementary School (top center in red)

DUI Dishonor Roll

 

AFD demonstrates extrication at their recent open house

Surprisingly only two DUIs bagged over the weekend in Amherst by APD. 

I say surprising because of all the other alcohol related mayhem that occured.  But the two certainly fit the classic formula:  early in the morning incidents where the drivers impairment was fairly obvious to police.

In the case of Gjergji Progri, age 21, because he hit two other cars on the main drag through UMass/Amherst -- North Pleasant and Mass Ave -- at 3:09 AM early Saturday morning; and Michela Luchetti, age 19, driving at 2:32 AM early Sunday morning on another highly traveled road -- University Drive -- without headlights.

I heard the female officer immediately call for backup even before stopping Luchetti, because according to the officer she was "all over the road."

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday both defendants pled "not guilty" and had their cases continued until next month.  Ms. Luchetti left the courtroom quickly with her exceedingly unhappy looking mother by her side.

Territorial

 290 West Street (Tuesday morning)

Those of you who drive to or by Crocker Farm school may have noticed a DPW crew doing work at the entrance to the school yesterday morning.  The town was reclaiming the public way borrowed by an absentee landlord for tenant parking.

When the Gralinski's owned 290 West Street (as they did since 1952) Esther used to operated the farm stand selling vegetables, and the public way was borrowed to create a turn out for the convenience of drive-thru customers.

When the family sold the estate in 2008 to carpetbagger, err, developer You-Pan Tzeng he immediately petitioned  the Zoning Board for a Special Permit to turn the one-family home into a two-family home with a new addition,  thus increasing the occupancy to eight unrelated individuals. 

Thus increasing the need for parking spaces.  But the tenants of Mr. Tzeng will now have to find another plot for parking.

Using town property for personal parking gain is kind of like expecting the Police or Fire Department to act as babysitters for rowdy tenants.  Yes, the town is getting territorial about that as well.

 290 West Street (this morning)

An Accidental Death

 Ghost Bike dedicated to Liv Pangburn

The DA has just confirmed no charges will be filed in the awful death of a young cyclist over four months ago:

From the Office of Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan

Oct. 8, 2013

No charges are being sought against the driver of an Amherst College box truck that was involved in a fatal collision with a bicyclist in Amherst on May 26, 2013. 

Livingston “Liv” Pangburn, 22, of Amherst, died as the result of injuries he sustained in the collision, which occurred at the intersection of College Street (Route 9) and Dickinson Street.  Pangburn was bicycling eastbound down the right-hand side of College Street, which heads downhill from the center of Amherst.  Traffic was heavy at the time due to commencement activities at Amherst College, and Pangburn was riding alongside a steady stream of vehicles also heading eastbound.  Meanwhile, the Amherst College box truck was stopped in the westbound lane, waiting to make a left-hand turn onto the Amherst College campus. 

As the eastbound traffic to Pangburn’s left slowed to a stop to allow the box truck to make its turn, Pangburn continued down the right-hand lane, passing the vehicles to his left. Pangburn was unable to slow or stop his bicycle in time to avoid colliding with the truck, and instead veered to the right in an unsuccessful attempt to maneuver around the truck.  Pangburn was wearing a helmet at the time of the collision, but sustained traumatic injuries to his torso.

The Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section (“CARS”) determined that the driver of the box truck could not have seen Pangburn in sufficient time to abort his turn and found no evidence that impairment, cell phone use, or mechanical defects played any part in the collision. 

The incident was jointly investigated by the Amherst Police, the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit attached to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, and CARS. 

Mary Carey – Communications Director

Another UMass Death

So no, I do not have the email UMass/Amherst sent out this morning, and no I do not have "official" confirmation from either the DA's office or APD.

But I have confirmed with enough reliable sources that indeed another UMass student (a 20-year-old male) has died, w-a-y too young.

UPDATE 4:00 PM

Amherst Police and Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Office of Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan are investigating the death of University of Massachusetts student Eric L. Sinacori, 20, who was found off-campus at his 1040 North Pleasant St., Amherst apartment, on Friday, Oct. 4.

No foul play is suspected, although the official cause of death has yet to be determined by the medical examiner’s office.

Mary Carey – Communications Director

#####

UPDATE:  2:00 PM

To the Campus Community:

It is with sadness that I write to inform you of the death of Eric
Sinacori. Eric passed away over the weekend in his off campus apartment.

Eric, 20, was from Whitehouse Station, New Jersey and a third year
student majoring in Kinesiology. University support staff has been in
direct contact with Eric’s family.

During difficult times like this we can help each other by noticing and
acknowledging the ongoing mourning and readjustment process that will
certainly take place and referring impacted students, staff and faculty
to any one of these resources for support or consultation:

Center for Counseling and Psychological Health
(413) 545-2337,127 Hills North

Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
(413) 545-9642,302 Student Union

Dean of Students Office
(413) 545-2684,227 Whitmore

Faculty and Staff Assistance Program
(413) 545-0350,Ground Floor, UHS Building

We extend our sincere condolences to Eric’s family and his friends.

Sincerely,

Enku Gelaye
Interim Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students Student Affairs and Campus
Life

UPDATE 2:45 PM

According to Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone "we do not have an investigation going on ."

All the King's horses and ...

 

APD doing Liquor Law enforcement in front of 15 Fearing Street midnight Sat

One of the scarier untold stories from last weekend, barely mentioned in official public documents, involves that hypothetical what could have gone wrong.  In other words, every parents nightmare.

 APD Call log

Amherst police had been called to 15 Fearing Street -- a usual suspect Party House managed by Eagle Crest Properties aka Jamie Cherewatti -- late Saturday night for a large crowd that had gathered and the usual noise associated with such a large gathering.

 

APD on scene 15 Fearing Street, midnight Saturday

Soon enough they called for back up ... the medical kind.

An ETOH (drunk) young female had fallen down the stairs and suffered a potentially deadly head injury.  Fortunately the call came in at a time when AFD was not completely overwhelmed with ETOH calls and she was quickly transported to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

 AFD weekend run report

Had the incident occurred just 24 hours earlier when AFD was overwhelmed with ETOH calls, she may not have been so lucky to get quick transport.

Last November UMass student Sydne Jacoby, having been out drinking with friends, fell and hit her head while walking along Fearing Street.

She died.  

Party House (s) of the Weekend

As you could probably tell from my previous report covering the alcohol soaked Friday night into Saturday morning that overwhelmed our Emergency Medical Response system, the other byproduct of free flowing alcohol-- noise/nuisance -- was also in abundant supply.

Amherst police broke up a party at #17 Salem Place Condominiums early Saturday morning (12:33 AM) arresting three UMass students for both noise and nuisance house Town By Law violations.  The second charge usually results if the party hosts are uncooperative at the front door, or there's a large number of attendees, with some of them underage.

Arrested by Amherst police: Enrico A. Aloi, Kyle A. Crist and John L. Tremblay all of them age 21 and all UMass students.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning all three accepted the plea bargain whereby the criminal charges are switched to a civil charge.  Judge John Payne, Jr. only enforced the $300 noise ticket and reduced the other $300 ticket to zero, even though an Assistant District Attorney had suggested the second charge be $50.

 

1008 North Pleasant Street (note car parked on lawn)

Saturday around midnight police broke up an even larger party at 1008 North Pleasant Street very near the UMass campus and directly across the street from the natorious Hobart Lane.  Five students were arrested, although one (Arian Hashemi-Pour) claimed this morning he was not a resident of the house so the charges could have been thrown out. 

Arrested for noise:  Arian C. Hashemi-Pour, 22  and Sana Jameel, Patricia L. Martin, Nicole Scepkowski and Adriana N. Sobel all of them 21 and UMass students all.

The four actual residents of 1008 North Pleasant Street (all the females) also agreed to the plea bargain with a  $300 fine going to the town and an additional $100 court costs to settle the matter. (Plus the $40 each paid to the court clerk to be released from APD jail).

 35 Northampton Road

Police also arrested two female UMass students at 35 Northampton Road (Rt 9) for noise and nuisance house violations just after midnight Saturday into Sunday morning.  Christina Kingdara, 20,  and Allison N. Wolf, 19, both UMass students.

Again Judge Payne nixed the nuisance charge and allowed the plea bargain of $300 to the town and $100 in court costs.

Interestingly all the students arrested by APD for underage drinking and/or open container violations were fined more heavily than Party House perps.  The plea bargain cost them $300 to the town, $100 to the court plus completion of the BASICS program at UMass, which also has a $100 fee.