Three's A Crowd

321 Lincoln Avenue, Amherst's Great White whale

After two years of cat and mouse attempts at enforcement of the zoning bylaw limiting 321 Lincoln Avenue to only two apartments ("two family") one of which must be "owner occupied" Building Commissioner Rob Morra declared victory with a signed legal document recorded 4/27/15.

The first thing You-Pan Tzeng did after buying 321 Lincoln Avenue three years ago was try to remove the "owner occupied" zoning requirement that legally came along with the building, which he of course knew about prior to purchasing it.

Tzeng lost that court battle but not before costing Amherst taxpayers over $15,000 in legal fees.

Neighbors along Fearing Street and Lincoln Avenue had been complaining almost since the day  he purchased the property, mainly about the extra tenants and the noise and cars that come with them.

But Inspection Services can't simply walk into a house unless invited to do so by a legal resident.  Last winter Morra received a call from a Boston attorney requesting he inspect the premises at 321 Lincoln where his daughter was a tenant.

They had been told when signing a lease that the house was only two apartments -- hers and the one below -- but the daughter clearly heard sounds associated with a 3rd unit above her.

At last the Building Commissioner had the legal grounds to do a complete inspection. Once Mr. Morra confirmed the presence of a stand alone unit on the 3rd floor -- complete with bedroom and kitchen -- he could assess fines of $100 per  day. 

Tzeng could not throw out the legal tenants from either of the two apartments (especially when one has a lawyer dad) because they had a signed lease and the third illegal unit was "owner occupied" by his daughter who attends UMass.

Hmm ... what to do?  Surrender!

This time, Moby Dick did not escape.

   Amherst Zoning Victory

Click to enlarge

Cracked structural beam just discovered in June at 321 Lincoln Avenue

Building On Rental Success

Mandi Jo Hanneke, Rob Morra (Building Commish), Pat Kamins, Maurianne Adams

Building Commissioner Rob Morra told the Rental Bylaw Implementation Group this afternoon that after 18 months the new Rental Permit Program is going better than expected but could still be improved -- most notably via a strengthening of the bylaw.

The second Fiscal Year of operation started July 1st and by the end of the month 1,260 properties had renewed their permits, almost exactly the same number who enrolled the previous year.

About 30-40 new properties joined the list but about that many dropped off because they were no longer renting, so it was pretty much  a wash.

With the $100 annual fee the program generated a $126,000 in revenues while break even for administrating is probably in the $165,000 range, a target figure that was given to Town Meeting two years ago when the program was first enacted.

The Town Manager could possibly consider a fee hike next year to increase revenues, bringing the program to a break even mark.

The main change Morra would like to see is the ability to (re)inspect properties that have been the subject of complaints and found by his department to be in violation of building/health codes.  In Fiscal Year 2014 his department found 214 violations.

Currently a landlord "self inspects" the property and town inspectors only become involved when a tenant lodges a complaint.  Morra pointed out that in some of the most egregious violations found the landlord/manager had checked off the self inspection form indicating that all was fine.

Kind of like what Iran nuclear self inspectors will be doing in the near future.

The Rental Bylaw Implementation Group was not overly enthusiastic about strengthening the bylaw just now (but maybe in the spring of 2017) to allow for mandatory inspections, siting mainly privacy concerns.  They also wish to see data to show how many of those 214 violations last year were repeat offenders.

Another idea presented by Morra was also met with wariness, also due to privacy concerns:  A joint task force made up of police, fire, health department and the new UMass neighborhood liaison (Eric Beal) with a mission to tour a usual suspect street or neighborhood.

The goal would not be to simply hand out enforcement tickets but to educate and inform residents of their rights to live in a safe rental property.  Morra thought if the pilot program does come to fruition it would kick off in late September or sometime before Halloween.

The Rental Registration Bylaw was overwhelmingly passed by Town Meeting two years ago as one means of bringing rowdy Party Houses under control, but mainly to prevent tragedies that can occur when slum lords have free reign.

So far this important public safety program is two for two.

Signs of Summer's End

Black Lives Matter group protest in front of APD at high noon today

Yes when you live in a "college town" there are some unmistakable signs that summer is quickly coming to a close and our population is about to double with students flocking to our three institutes of higher education.

From the ubiquitous  "Welcome Back Students" signs in shopkeepers windows to the downtown traffic jams created by a co-mingling of cars and college aged youth.

Political activism will pick up where it left off last spring with the current cause de jour being "Black Lives Matter."  Today at noon a group of about 30 marched around and through the Town Common and set up shop in front of the Amherst Police Station at 111 Main Street.



They were pretty much ignored by APD, although not by the local bricks and mortar media or pedestrians in the downtown.  Which, I suppose, is the general idea.

You Can't Get There From Here

You may have noticed all those bright yellow additions appearing on our regular street signs that almost resemble stickers, informing drivers not to come sightseeing unless they have a good reason.

Maybe it's part of being a "green community," reducing the extra gas consumed when a lost vehicle goes down the wrong street, or just an easy way to keep the peace in neighborhoods where some folks don't like lost vehicles using their driveway to turn around.

DPW Chief Guilford Mooring reports the signs come with no additional cost to taxpayers because the new "No Outlet" is simply added to the routine design and then used whenever a street sign is replaced.

A sign replacement costs the town $250.  So in case you ever wondered why the (infamous) Hobart Lane street sign is twice as high up as a regular sign ...

Hobart Lane (also a "no outlet" street)

Thuggery Continues

War Memorial Pool.  DPW Tree Division immediately north

In addition to break ins at downtown LimeRed Teahouse, the Monkey Bar and an apartment nearby on Thursday night, the town owned War Memorial Pool (now closed for the season) was also the victim of an overzealous agile perp who climbed the perimeter fence, broke through security glass in an inside door and then trashed the place in search of cash -- which he didn't find.

 All outside windows are gated security glass

Unfortunately the town does not have security cameras installed at the War Memorial building, although the DPW operation next door will soon have them, and one camera will point directly at the pool.

Our downtown has been plagued by this unsophisticated type of criminal activity for far too long now.

And while the students return next week does not necessarily increase this brutish type of behavior, the other alcohol fueled rowdy activities college aged youth routinely engage in -- albeit a small minority but of a large overall number -- will keep police distracted until first snow. 

 Eastern Hampshire District Court

Thursday night's break in spree seemed to be worse than the entire weekend as Monday morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court had a total of three APD arraignments, two for motor vehicle charges and one for a violation of abuse prevention order. 

Moving On Up: Deluxe Apartment In The Sky

Kendrick Place, opening by September 1st

Gloom and doom aficionados will be watching closely over the next few weeks as one of the more controversial buildings du jour -- after all, what building in Amherst has not generated controversy -- will open for business.  Just in time for the students return.

In an update to the Planning Board earlier this week developers Kyle Wilson and Dave Williams presented "streetscape" plans for the finished product, although with the undergrounding of utility poles yet to be completed some of the work will have to put off until next year.

   Kendrick Place Streetscape

Streetlights for instance.  DPW Chief Guilford Mooring told the Planning Board the MassWorks $1.5 million grant for the utility work only included the installation of tradition streetlights.

So if the board was interested in using the ornate, more efficient LEDs, they should take a quick tour of the Atkins Corner project where the streetlights are working just fine.

Mooring said he would still install traditional streetlights around Kendrick Place for the winter but could then replace them with the fancier ones, and simply reuse the conventional ones as spare parts.  The price per unit for LED has come down to around the same $500 per unit as conventional ones.

 Atkins Corner LED streetlight

Parking is of course the main issue with Kendrick Place -- or I should say the lack of it.   Because it's located in the Municipal Parking District there are no minimum parking requirements.  Thus critics wonder where the 104 tenants from the 36 units will park.

Although Amherst has one of the most extensive free bus systems in the region. 

The Planning Board will present an article to Fall Town Meeting calling for the simplification of using private parking lots in the downtown as separate stand alone businesses to attempt to make more efficient use of parking.  Private lots currently provide the lions share of parking in the downtown.

 Property owner across the street not interested in sharing his parking lots

But Jeff Brown, the property owner directly across Triangle Street from Kendrick Place, said he has no interest in using his parking lots for anything but the convenience of his commercial tenants.

Town officials will also be closely monitoring the absorption of Kendrick Place into the downtown ecosystem, since the same developers are planning One East Pleasant Street, a much larger mixed use building within a shadow of Kendrick Place. 

 Construction crews working on a Saturday (8/22) to ensure September 1 opening

Sudden Stop (Sign)

North Amherst center Pine/Meadow intersection (circled)

Local long time activist and North Amherst resident Vince O'Connor told the Public Works Committee last night that a stop sign was needed at the Sunderland/Montague Road junction just north of the main intersection in the North Amherst Village Center.  Now!

O'Connor is worried that students coming to the University of Massachusetts driving through the intersection for the first time will be confused by the 5-way intersect taking place within a small distance leading to public safety issues.

Public Works Committee Chair Christine Gray-Mullen did not want to hear about that particular micro-management issue since it was not on the agenda for committee discussion.  So any extended discussion now would be a violation of Open Meeting Law.

 Public Works Committee last night.  DPW Chief Guilford Mooring top center

DPW Chief Guilford Mooring stated many people were confused by the issue at the June 24 Public Forum and wanted to solve the entire 5-way intersection problem, when in fact there are two distinct separate intersections that need to be addressed individually.

The agenda for the PWC meeting sought to do just that. 

After O'Connor stormed out of the meeting, saying he would press his concerns with the Amherst Select Board, the Public Works Committee voted unanimously to separate Pine/Meadow/North Pleasant from Montague/Sunderland Road for redesign purposes.

 Mr. O'Connor wants a stop sign on Montague Road (circled)

Mooring reaffirmed his belief that the only solution for Pine/Meadow/North Pleasant was a simple traffic light tweak allowing guaranteed left turns, like the traffic control at University Drive and Amity Street.

And new traffic control lights could be up and flashing by next year.

The town will host another public forum on the North Amherst intersection in October.  The Amherst Select Board has final say over the design improvements.