Don't Tear Down This Barn!

Cowls barn, 134 Montague Road, North Amherst

After impassioned pleas by North Amherst neighbors with no vested interest other than visual, the Amherst Historical Commission voted unanimously (4 yes, 3 absent) to impose a "one year demolition delay" on W.D. Cowls, the largest private landowner in the state, doing business in the town of Amherst before there was a town of Amherst.

 Amherst Historical Commission

The barn sits immediately behind and looms over the Cowls family farmhouse -- built in 1768 -- which now serves as company headquarters.

 Cinda Jones failed to convince the Amherst Historical Commission to allow demolition

The barn is within spitting distance of the cow barn @ 113 Cowls Road that will be almost completely dismantled and rebuilt for the selling pleasure of Atkins Farms Country Market, a relative newcomer at just over 100 years of doing business in the far south end of town.

 Cow barn:  future home of Atkins Farms Country Market

 More than a dozen friendly neighbors showed up to oppose demolition

The cost to repair the barn for agricultural reuse approached $250,000, which would not provide a viable return on investment.  The current preferred plan is to donate the salvageable wood to the Emily Dickinson Homestead for an interpretive historically accurate barn raising on the property.

Q: What would you put in place of the #historic barn? A: Parking is 1 option. (Geez why don’t you stick a gun in your mouth? That was fatal)
— CitizenWald (@CitizenWald) July 23, 2014

The one year delay does have an "escape clause" whereby the owner can come back in three or four months showing that there are no economically viable solutions to save the structure, and the delay could be lifted.

The Historical Commission seemed genuinely troubled over enacting the full delay, pointing out that Ms. Jones had already done many of the things an owner is expected to do AFTER the one year delay is imposed.  

Barn with 1 year stay of execution (left) Atkins new north location (right)

 

"Of All Places ..."

Fellow UMass journo -- and one of my favorite columnists -- Kevin Cullen seems to have run afoul of UMass cheerleaders with his latest column about a "stupid college kid" who made the grave mistake of aiding and abetting the current poster boy for satanic terrorists, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Three little words were spiked after initial publication.

Obviously when you talk about an uber rich guy sending his son to "elite schools" but then when it comes time for college sends him to "of all places" UMass Dartmouth, it kind of sends the message that it's not exactly the same as an "elite school."  Which of course it's not.

But you can't say that.   In the venerable Boston Globe.  Apparently.

When DUIs Converge

Heather Leupold, age 27,  arrested by Hadley PD last night Rt9/Rt116 intersection near Amherst town line

So if my weekly reports of drunk drivers arrested by Amherst Police all over our little town is not depressing enough for you, consider this past weekend Pelham and Hadley police also arrested impaired drivers who were only moments away from crossing the town line into Amherst.

 Seth Alison arrested by Pelham police for DUI on Saturday

Kind of like that level three sex offender arrested at Puffer's Pond earlier this month:  He was not one of our 24 registered sex offenders, as he lives in Southampton. 

And you wonder why I'm a fan of additional police officers (and firefighter/EMTs).

#####

 

Amber Theriault stands before Judge Payne

Meanwhile, Judge Payne accepted a standard 24D plea deal (only available to 1st time offenders) this morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court from Amber Theriault, age 22, arrested by APD back in  mid-May for DUI in town center.

She was observed taking a really w-i-d-e turn onto Triangle Street from North Pleasant and when pulled over had all the common attributes:  smell of liquor, glassy eyes, slurred speech.  She also lost her balance when performing the Field Sobriety Test.

Ms. Theriault will lose her license for 45 days, pay $600 up front in fines and another $65/month for a year while on probation.  If she has no further incidents over the course of the year the DUI is dismissed. 

When asked by Judge Payne where she had her last drink she replied, "Stacker's Pub" in the heart of downtown Amherst.  And considering her breath test back at APD headquarters was .18% -- more than twice the legal limit -- she was pretty drunk when served that "last drink."

 

Stacker's Pub, 57 North Pleasant Street (building owned by Jamie Cherewatti)

Make That Over $100K

Cherry Hill Municipal Golf Course lost a tad more than the $87,739 I reported the other day.  Now add an additional $16,225 for a "Sand Pro Groomer" and the new total breaks the six-digit price point, coming in at $103,964 in tax dollars.  For the game of golf.  Ouch!

   Cherry Hill Golf Losses

There's a Killer On The Road

Newman Galati aka @Newmasaur (Used without permission)

Amherst police only made one OUI Liquor arrest over the weekend but it was a doozy ... Newman Galati, age 22,  a repeat offender.  He had come over the Notch by Atkins Country Market in deep South Amherst heading toward Amherst town center not-all-that-late Saturday night driving erratically and with his headlights off.

 

Newman Galati, booking photo, courtesy APD

Amherst police pulled him over on South Pleasant Street (about 350 yards from my house) a beer can throw from town center and immediatley noticed the fresh front end damage to his vehicle.  He was arrested on a host of charges:

APD arrests driver on South Pleasant Street near town center Driving Under Influence (erratically and without headlights)
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) July 19, 2014

And Then There Were None

 

Pat Kamins landlord, Rob Morra (on right)  Building Commissioner

Amherst Building Commissioner Rob Morra reports the most recent Rental Permit Bylaw enforcement actions taken by his office to bring into the compliance the final dozen properties (out of 1,300) has been successful.

Only one remains -- 84 Grantwood Avenue -- and they have told him the "application is in the mail."

 A dozen years ago the Board of Health made an ill fated attempt to bring about Rental Registration but it was mostly ignored; and after the contentious "Smoking Ban in Bars War" from a few years earlier the Board seemed reticent to take on the enforcement challenge.  

Naysayers with a vested interest claimed the current implementation of the common sense bylaw, with its nominal $100 annual fee, would be a logistical nightmare and that the Zoning Board would be overwhelmed with hearings to approve the parking component of the program. 

But all of that sound and fury has apparently signified nothing.

100% compliance now sets the stage for rental occupancy peak season when students return next month.  So the next big test is yet to come.  

Red Ink Runaround

 

Cherry Hill Clubhouse cost $4,365 liability insurance, not part of "operation budget"

Okay, I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong.  Eight months ago I predicted Cherry Hill Golf Course, the town's most insatiable White Elephant, would squander $60,000 in FY14 (just ended June 30).

Instead the beleaguered beast lost $87,739 -- or well over the cost of a firefighter, police officer or teacher.  Also well over the $47,141 in tax monies it lost last year or $40,132 the year before that.

As usual the business overran their operation budget by $6,696 and missed their target revenue goal by $12,495, a 9.4% reduction from last year's total revenues.

But when you add in those other significant hidden costs -- employee benefits, capital/equipment, insurance -- that do not show up as part of the "operation budget" -- the red ink flows like the River Jordan.

Amherst Town Meeting took Cherry Hill back in 1987 by eminent domain using an "emergency measure" provision that made the action "Referendum proof."  A malevolent move that cost $2.2 million dollars ($4.4 million in today's dollars), the most expensive land acquisition in town history.

And of course it was inspired by North Amherst NIMBYs who wished to stop a modest 134 unit housing development in their backyard.  In fact the developer offered to deed the entire golf course to the town for $1 as all he wanted was the land overlooking it for housing.

In a July 7 memo to the illustrious Select Board, Cherry Hill cheerleader John Musante (who also happens to be the Town Manager) stated:  "This ongoing evaluation will likely include revisiting the cost-benefit of privatizing operations of the Cherry Hill Golf Course."

Even if we lease it out for $1 the town still greatly benefits because taxpayers would avoid subsidizing hefty annual losses, and the commercial business would go back on the tax rolls.  Last year Amherst College, our largest landowner, paid the town just over $15,000 in property taxes for their nine hole golf club.

And if we can't find anyone to take it off our hands to continue providing the luxurious game of golf, then other uses should be found.  Like solar for instance.  

Former cornfield, East Hadley Road, Hadley