Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here

Town Meeting time consuming standing vote last night

So once again by majority vote (88-66) against dismissal of Article 25 Amherst Town Meeting showed their true anti-business colors:  yellow.

The Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything BANANA crowd led by Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth, who never met a payroll in their life, are now no longer the radical fringe of our antiquated legislative body.

 Vince O'Connor: Amherst's Dr. Strangelove

While they may not have the numbers -- as evidenced last night -- to pass a business killer zoning article, which requires a two-thirds vote, they certainly have enough to block any future pro development zoning articles, which we've already seen them do time and time again over the recent past.

Amherst is more than half owned by tax exempts (mainly Amherst College, UMass, Hampshire College and our Conservation Department) thus shifting twice the burden to the other half who do pay property taxes.

And unlike non-bastions of higher education Amherst has a decidedly unbalanced 90/10 split between residential (90%) and commercial (10%) property tax base.

So "mixed use" commercial/residential development is the perfect answer -- especially in the downtown where our anemic commercial sector is slowing starving.

Amherst:  Where even the h is silent

Anyone who has ever run a small business knows the last thing an entrepreneur needs is a local government micro-managing their operation, or macro-managing the playing field. 

Especially one where almost none of the "elected" members has ever run a business. 

Somber Sunday

 Life Flight helicopter on the scene Leverett Elementary School for patient pick up

UPDATE May 20:  The District Attorney's office has confirmed one of the motorcyclists has died.

Sunday was not a very good day for motorcycle enthusiasts with a spat between rival gangs leaving 9 dead in the parking lot of a Texas restaurant, and more locally two bikes careening down the somewhat treacherous s curves in Leverett/Shutesbury crashed leaving both riders with serious injuries.

So serious that one of them, who also suffered burns, had to be airlifted by Life Flight helicopter to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and the other transported by AFD ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.  More seriously injured patients are taken there in lieu of a "normal" transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.

Leverett Fire Department coordinated the Life Flight helicopter but it was Amherst EMS personnel who had to deal with the horrific injuries.  Two ambulances were required, one for a couple hours and the other about 90 minutes.

The ambulance that transported to Baystate Medical Center had three EMS personnel on board rather than the usual two.

According to Mary Carey, Northwester District Attorney Dave Sullivan's spokesperson:   

The Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit attached to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office were notified of the crash shortly after it happened, and responded to the scene to assist with the investigation.  The Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section (“CARS”) also responded to the scene, and is handling the reconstruction aspect of the investigation.

Amherst Fire Department provides ambulance service to Leverett, Pelham, Shutesbury and Hadley, in addition to their hometown.  75% of AFD's total runs are for EMS related calls.

 Not a good place to speed

Motorcycle accident two years ago that also required Life Flight

IF You Build It?

Greenleaves Buildings #27 & #25

The Zoning Board of Appeals is pretty used to concerned neighbors attending a public hearing with the intent to squash a proposed development via Special Permit in their front or backyard.

 Concerned Greenleaves residents pack May 14 ZBA meeting

But their May 14 meeting was a tad unique in that owners who live in Greenleaves Retirement Community turned out to complain about a Community Center being built in their side yard, a structure that is required by the original 2004 Special Permit that allowed Greenleaves to be built in the first place.

 Open lot between buildings #25 & #27

A legal arrangement they were aware of when first purchasing their condos in the development.

When the condo project was first built each building had one unit temporarily set aside as a "community room" as a convenience for the residents until the Community Center was constructed.

But the tenant/owners have now gotten used to that arrangement and apparently like it better than a stand alone building nearby.

 Proposed Community Room (that may not happen)

The project owners wish to reclaim the original community rooms and sell them as residential units as originally planned. 

The ZBA is now stuck in the middle of the dispute.  In a somewhat informal poll taken by management 18 residents supported building the new Community Center and 24 opposed it.

Senior Planner Jeff Bagg expressed concern that so much time has been spent on the proposed building and now it may not happen.  The ZBA would still have to modify the original Special Permit to allow for nixing the  Community Center and approve that space for parking or any other function. 

The hearing was continued to June 11th.

Russell Street is Rt 9. Greenleaves straddles Amherst/Hadley border

Rockin' Rafters For A Good Cause

Runners head to the start line 10:25 AM

With almost zero wind and bright but not blistering sunshine you could not ask for better day to run (or fly).  And hundreds of civic minded outdoor enthusiasts answered the call, for the 22nd running of the Rafters College Town Classik 5 mile road race this morning. 

View on Youtube directly

Larger view on Facebook

Party House Zoning Delays

186 College Street (Rt 9), Amherst

Stephan Gharabegian, arguably Amherst's most notorious absentee landlord, made yet another brief appearance before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday night in his ongoing quest to expand the capacity of 186 College Street from a two-family (8 unrelated tenants) to a three-family (12 tenants), which is how he used it until getting caught last year by the Building Commissioner. 

Senior Town Planner Jeff Bagg expressed concern to the ZBA about the "long periods of time with minimal activity on his part," for addressing concerns of the Building Commissioner about parking, possible wetlands on the property that could be impacted by the expanded parking required, and a 2nd means of egress for the 3rd unit. 

In fact the Building Commissioner already enforced that serious code violation -- a second means of egress for the other two units -- in order to make them safely habitable.

 Stephan Gharabegian appears before ZBA.  Chair Eric Beal (ctr) Senior Planner Jeff Bagg (far left), Tom Ehrgood to his left

ZBA member Tom Ehrgood said rather sternly while looking directly at Gharabegian: "When we issue Special Permits for complicated cases like this and the hearing continues to stretch on, it sends us a bad message,  and gives me pause, making me wonder if you will oversee it properly."

June 11 will be the 4th time before the ZBA

The hearing was continued to June 11 so Gharabegian can go before the Conservation Commission, have an engineer submit a proper parking plan and creating a safe 2nd means of egress for the 3rd unit in case of fire.

Since Eric Beal, who was chairing the meeting, is leaving the ZBA on June 11 that will be the final deadline for Gharabegian to have all the paperwork in order.

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.

 Click to enlarge/read

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.

Click to enlarge/read