Victim Of Success?

Mission Cantina, 485 West Street, South Amherst

A bit of a firefight erupted at the Zoning Board of Appeals hearing last night over a Special Permit for the wildly successful Mexican restaurant in South Amherst, Mission Cantina.  Mainly over parking.

Attorney Kristi Bodin in a memo called the proposed actions of the board "arbitrary & capricious" and capped of her verbal presentation last night by branding it "really, really disturbing."

The restaurant, she pointed out, has a seating capacity of 49 and the zoning bylaw calls for one parking spot per 4 seats so they are only required to have 12, but in fact have 26.

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So to require them to provide (3) additional new parking spaces when all they wanted was permission to build an 8 foot fence to shield their immediate residential neighbor and add a vestibule in the front of the building (for energy savings in the winter) was a tad maddening. 

ZBA member Tom Ehrgood, who bristled at the word "capricious," pointed out that they were also requesting a doubling of employee parking in back, and permission to park the sizable Taco Truck. 

Taco truck and employee parking in the rear

The food truck operation is what tripped Building Commissioner Rob Morra's attention.  The original Special Permit that allowed the restaurant to open has nothing in the management plan to address the operation of the food truck on site, which loads up at the restaurant in the early evening and then returns in the early morning hours.

And Mr. Morra also thought the addition of the vestibule where patrons could stand while waiting for a table increases the capacity of the building (even though seating remains at 49) thus creating a "change in use" that requires its own Special Permit.

The ZBA seemed willing to compromise and liked the idea of both the vestibule and fence but since most of them have patronized the restaurant they know first hand there's a problem at peak time with parking.

Building Commissioner Morra could not be at the meeting last night to explain his findings, so the hearing was continued until June 4.  And by the end of last night's hearing, a Mexican standoff had been avoided as they had come to mutually agreeable terms:

1) Mission Cantina would submit a revised site plan removing the "new" parking spaces and showing eight (8) employee spaces and one (1) taco truck space behind the restaurant, 2) Mission would submit a plan to delineate the edge of the parking area on the south side of the building to prevent parking on the grass or dirt next to the lot; as well as a plan to inform patrons that parking on unpaved areas was not allowed; 3) Mission would provide a change to the management plan for the taco truck revising the hours to 3 am at the latest for clean up, and 4) Mission would provide a change to the fencing material from stockade fencing to some type of solid panel.

Red box indicates where 3 "new" parking spaces would have been located.  

 Business neighbor to north not interested in leasing out parking spaces

We're #51!

Amherst Regional High School

Ever since websites discovered digital consumers love lists the "Top ten", "Top 100" and every odd number in between has become a standard cliche of publishing.

But for parents who take education seriously, the US News & World Report education ratings has been the gold standard for over a generation now.

Indeed, Amherst Regional High School coming in shy of the top 50 for Massachusetts is cause for concern.  Two other Western Mass schools came in higher, Greenfield (#43) and Palmer  (#49).

And in the most recent financials published by the state Amherst comes in a #35 for average (high) cost per student.

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Quieter Winter Spring

Amherst Police Department, 111 Main Street

The war on rowdy (college aged) student behavior continues to show steady gains. A combination of APD community policing and UMass outreach has once again paid off with a decent decline in "noise" complaints all across town.

But "Nuisance" tickets are up, which only indicates that a small hard core of party hardy types need a further attitude adjustment.

Perhaps UMass will take a closer look at outlier students who received both a "noise" and "nuisance" ticket and issue stern sanctions that gets their undivided attention.  Once and for all.

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UMass Team Positive out in force for Blarney Blowout 3/7/15

Don't Build A Damn Thing

New Town Logo: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything

Amherst downtown business community dodged a dirty bomb last night as Town Meeting -- all too narrowly -- rejected by 97 Yes-83 No (but it required a 2/3 Yes vote) a citizen petition article requiring strict parking requirements with any new development in the Municipal Parking District which currently exempts such parking requirements.

 CVS parking lot downtown

And the common sense reason for that is parking is very expensive, and takes up precious space.  Besides, Amherst is a "green community" where walking, cycling, skateboarding and public transportation are highly encouraged.

The scary thing about last night is that more than a majority of Town Meeting members supported this anti-business, no growth strategy. 

Currently Amherst has an out of whack tax base: 10% commercial, 90% residential.  Hadley by comparison has 34% commercial tax base and 66% residential.  And their property tax rate is almost half that of Amherst. 

All of their commercial property is located along the RT9 corridor, aka two shopping malls, which provide plenty of free parking.  No wonder our downtown is struggling.  

The other anti-development travesty last night was the scuttling of Article 23, which would have rezoned four adjacent properties bordering UMass and Amherst town center, thus allowing greater housing density.

Currently problem #1 in our little college town is lack of housing.

Naturally the neighbors, whose backyards run down a steep incline into the zone would have none of it.  And naturally, because we're talking Amherst Town Meeting, their NIMBY sentiments prevailed. 

Classik By Any Other Name

Road races (and walks) to benefit social service agencies have sprung up like luscious lawns in a warm moist spring.  Mainly because it's a perfect win-win situation:  the participants get fresh air & exercise, camaraderie, plus the positive feeling that comes with supporting a great cause.

Perhaps the granddaddy (or grandmommy) of all events happens this Sunday: The Rafters 2015 College Town Classik Road Race to benefit The Jimmy Fund and Amherst Police Relief Fund.

Now in its 22nd year.  And the weather is going to be hospitable. 

Register now and save $5 (enough to buy a beer at Rafters after the race).

Educational Merger?

 

Amherst Regional High School

Starting with the school year September, 2018 if all goes according to plan, 7th and 8th graders will be home based in the Amherst Regional High School building while high school seniors will be taking college courses via dual enrollment in the (former) Middle School building located well within walking distance next door.

Kathy Mazur (left) addresses Regional School Committee

Last night an animated Director of Human Resources Kathy Mazur updated the 9 member Regional School Committee about the ambitious plan.  Both buildings are owned by the Region and are bound by the Regional Agreement signed by all four towns:  Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury.

And according to their attorney Giny Tate, there's nothing in the Regional Agreement that precludes such a reorganization.

Amherst Regional Middle School

The plan involves a major collaboration with  Greenfield Community College, who will use the former Middle School building as a satellite facility in exchange for below market rate rent and offering Amherst Regional School students reduced rate college courses.

And the main niche they would fill is in vocational training.  In the upcoming fiscal year (FY16) the Region will lose 55 students to out of district vocational schools (mainly Smith Vocational in Northampton) at a cost to the Region of $18,000 per student or a total cost of $990,000. 

The High School was renovated/expanded in 1996 when enrollments were at a high water mark so the building is capable of handling 1,725 students.  Current enrollment in both Middle and High School is 1472 and five years from now is projected to be only 1,372. 

In the Fall (2015) Amherst Regional Public Schools will host an "Educational Summit" (facilitated by state Representative Ellen Story) to discuss strategies for dealing with education in 21st century with of course particular emphasis on this collaboration.

   ARPS Merger Memo

DUI Dishonor Roll

Amherst Police took three impaired drivers off the road over the weekend: Richard Sherwood (his 3rd offense), William Sevene, age 49, and Sky Walters age 20.  Three sounds like a lot but only because there have not been all that many over the past few weekends.

 Sky Walters arraigned from lock up

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Now that the students are gone APD will have more time on weekends to keep an eye out, so we may see this higher average hold up for the summer.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday Sky Walters was assigned a public defender for which he will pay $150 and his case was continued until June 22.  Mr. Sevene will also return for a pre-trial hearing next month.