A Shining Light

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Umass  three solar parking canopies will save $45K annually

Senate President Stan Rosenberg, a tireless workhorse for Western Mass in general and UMass/Amherst in particular, joined forces with Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, outgoing State Rep Ellen Story and Judith Judson, commissioner of the state Department of Energy Resources (DOER), to officially welcome/unveil the first parking canopy solar arrays to our area.

 Good crowd on hand for the 10:30 AM ceremony

Over the next year the University will install two more of these parking lot canopy solar arrays as well as placing arrays on six buildings, a total of 15,576 panels, which will provide 5.5 megawatts of energy and save $6.2 million over the next 20 years.

 Vira Douangmany Cage, Amilcar Shabazz and Stan Rosenberg

Ellen Story:  "This is great advertising for UMass"

Stan Rosenberg:  "Emblematic installation highlighting the green future we desperately need"

Judith Judson:"Partners like UMass help us establish our goal of clean energy"

Chancellor Subbaswamy

Marijuana Quota Met?

169 Meadow St RMD site for GTI

Last night the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a Special Permit to establish and operate an Off-Site Medical Marijuana Dispensary at 169 Meadow Street, North Amherst by GTI Massachusetts NP Corporation, the second such permit issued over the past four weeks.

 Attorney Tom Reidy presents to ZBA last night

But, in all likelihood, the last such permit to be issued over the foreseeable future.

55 University Drive location received a Special Permit on June 30th

ZBA Chair Mark Parent made it perfectly clear that he considers two dispensaries in Amherst (and the one already operating in Northampton) more than enough to satisfy local demand over the next five years, saying "I don't see anything beyond two in Amherst.  I cannot image giving a 3rd permit for a dispensary given the numbers I've seen."

A Special Permit requires a unanimous vote off all three ZBA members.

Seated in the audience UMass community liaisons Tony Maroulis and Eric Beal seemed relieved to hear the ZBA Chair's candid remarks about maintaining a cap of only two dispensaries in Amherst, thus leaving out in the cold two remaining non-profits who have applied for locations on University Drive, the main gateway to UMass Amherst.

85 University Drive was the first to get Select Board approval but has not yet appeared before ZBA

Mr. Parent also made it perfectly clear the Special Permit was for medical use of marijuana, NOT recreational use. 

So if the recreational pot legalization ballot question passes on November 8th any dispensary in Amherst already issued a Special Permit would need to come back to the ZBA for a change in conditions.

Rafters,  a local landmark for 25 years, is a proposed site for Happy Valley Ventures, the 4th entity to get Select Board approval but has not yet appeared before ZBA

Letter from Select Board read into public record last night:

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Growing In The Way Of Progress

Linden Tree will be removed for a sidewalk/crosswalk project

At the joint meeting of the Planning Board and Tree Warden last night all six trees scheduled for demolition received a stay of execution, but not because of any of their actions.

Because of Mass state law if one person files a letter of protest over a tree removal then the matter is automatically diverted to the Amherst Select Board our "keepers of the public way."  And by last night there were two such letters filed.

The Planning Board did vote anyway and unanimously approved removing the Linden tree in front of the Jones Library for placement of a sidewalk and all but one of the trees along the north border of Kendrick Park.


Three of these four on Kendrick Park will go to make room for a new roundablut

This entire island will be removed for new roundabout

But not without some badgering of DPW Chief Guilford Mooring concerning the roundabout approved to go in that location.

New PB member Michael Birtwhistle more than once demanded to know if the town has a funding source in place for the new roundabout, to which Mooring responded he honestly did not know.

The motion that passed unanimously (but cannot be carried out until Select Board decides) allowed for the removal of three of the four trees, but only after a funding source has been confirmed for the construction of the roundabout.

 A roundabout has been approved by Public Works Committee and Select Board

Just Another Day For Public Safety Dept

AFD & APD on scene Brandywine Apartments

Who said summers in Amherst are boring?

Our first responders rushed to Brandwine Apartments in North Amherst for a complaint about a resident "cooking chemicals on a stove."

  Nikolai James being escorted to ambulance

Before it was over almost eight hours later APD, AFD, a State Police helicopter and a HazMat team coordinated a response.

The perp, Nikolai James, was apparently cooking his own urine and that was only one of many unidentified chemicals found in his apartment.  And yes, ammonia/uric acid is an ingredient for crystal meth.

He was transported by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital but then flew the coop. 

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They've Got A Secret

Regional School Committee and their attorney Tom Columb this evening

The joint meeting of the Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee and Union 26 met in open session this evening at the Regional Middle School from 6:00 PM until 6:04 PM and then retreated into Executive Session until 9:34 PM, even though the published agenda called for only 55 minutes.

Last week they also went into Executive Session for two hours and fifty minutes for the same stated reason:  "To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel."

 Which is of course Superintendent Maria Geryk, the highest paid employee in the town of Amherst.

And yes she still has two years (with an option to renew for an additional year) left on her contract so obviously the "negotiations" they were discussing is not simply a contract renewal.

At last week's meeting the Committee was supposed to discuss and release the Superintendent's annual evaluation due June 30th,  but that was put off until Monday, a meeting that was then cancelled at the last minute.

Since Ms. Geryk was not present either last week or this evening (or at last night's Wildwood School Building Committee meeting) no discussion could take place -- in open or closed session -- of her job performance.

But something pretty darn interesting must have been discussed.  For over six hours now.  In secret.

DUI DIshonor Roll

MADD statistic:  Every two minutes a person is injured in a drunk driving crash

Only one impaired driver in the town of Amherst was taken off the road last weekend by UMass police, but statistically speaking a few more managed to escape the long arm of the law.

Hadley police bagged two.

All three individuals had a plea of not guilty entered in their behalf by Judge Thomas Estes in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday morning and their cases were continued until next month.

Sam Tang age 20 is arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court

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Ariel Barnett-Soleil, age 26, arraigned before Judge Estes

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Aaron Braithwaite, age 50, arraigned before Judge Estes

Wildwood Gone Wild

Wildwood Building Project now expected to cost $33 million in town funds

 

Wildwood Building Committee yesterday afternoon

A day after the Select Board agreed to place a Debt Exclusion Override on the November 8 ballot the Wildwood School Building Committee heard what the possible amount would be:  A lot.

 Presentation to Select Board Monday night

$33 million to be precise, or perhaps the word precise is a tad too precise at this moment.

The Committee also heard about estimates that already came in almost $2 million too high, so the OPM and architects had to delete or reduce items.

 Recent cost cuts

When Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek questioned why the building will only be LEED Silver vs LEED Gold certified, he was told that too was a trade off due to cost constraints.

The November 8th ballot question will not have an actual amount but by then a more precise number will be known and the November 14th Town Meeting will need to vote a bond authorization for a precise amount.  That requires a two-thirds vote.

By then the project will only have a 6% contingency built in, so if in the final stages of construction  that gets overrun the additional amount needed will not be funded/reimbursed by MSBA.  Currently the overall reimbursement rate is projected at 50%-55%.

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The town will pay as we go the entire $67 million, but will also get the reimbursements within weeks of submitting bills for eligible costs bringing the total town spending down to, maybe, $33 million but that does not include interest.

Embattled School Superintendent Maria Geryk, a member of the Wildwood Building Committee, was not at the meeting and did not attend the Select Board meeting on Monday night.

The Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee meets later this afternoon in Executive Session for the second time in a week to discuss her future employment.