Blarney No Blowover

Blarney Blowout, March 8 "in the area of 374 N. Pleasant Street"

At almost the three month mark from that day of infamy, the court system is still dealing out justice to those (58) "college aged youth" arrested during the Blarney Blowout.

Dana Mahar standing before Judge Payne

On Monday in Eastern Hampshire District Court before Judge John Payne, Dana Mahar, age 22, accepted what now seems to be the standard plea deal:  Case continued without a finding for six months (probation) plus $200 restitution to Amherst Police Department, 20 hours of community service  and a letter of apology.

 Page 2 continues: " ... from the other individuals in the area.  Additionally, during the struggle, the strap on my pepper ball gun broke and caused the gun to fall.  This rendered it temporarily out of service."

Meanwhile, I'm told the (Ed) Davis Report with recommendations on how to avoid another Blarney Blowout should be completed within the next three weeks "or so".

Hey, for $160,000 I guess it's better they spend a little extra time to get it right. 

DUI Dishonor Roll

I guess it's a good thing the majority of drunk driving arrests occur in the late night early morning hours as Meghan M. Gesek, age 21, was taken off the road after crashing her vehicle into a fence on a school playground. 

Affordable Housing Deal is Done

UPDATE:  Tuesday afternoon

Town Officials want it made clear that Amherst currently is not below the 10% threshold for a CH40B development.  The state did a survey about a month ago and the results should be known late summer early fall, where the official number we have to live with will be announced.  

It was agreed, however, that Rolling Green alone could be a deciding factor depending on whether the state allows us to keep all 204 units on the SHI or just credits us the 41.

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Original post (from the floor of Town Meeting no less)

Even though one of the better selling points of the town entering into a private deal -- with a $1.25 million entry fee -- to preserve 41 affordable units of housing at Rolling Green Apartments  evaporated like morning mist on a hot summer day, Town Meeting still voted near unanimously to do the deal. 

Let me explain:

For the past generation Rolling Green has accounted for 204 units on our Subsidized Housing Index, a state formula that requires cities and towns to maintain a minimum of 10% of its housing stock as "affordable," or be subject to a developer using Ch40B as a trump card for a mega-development (as long as 25% of the units are "affordable.")

 Even though only 41 of the Rolling Green units were actually affordable, because of a clause in the federal loan agreement used by a developer to finance the facility, all 204 units were counted.  Equity Residential, the current owner, paid off that loan in September, so now that provision is gone. 

With all 204 units counted Amherst stood at 10.8% on the SHI index. With only 41 of the units counting Amherst will register 9% and with all the units lost, 8.5%.  In other words Amherst is now below the minimum SHI index required to stave off a Ch40B development from happening.

But Town Manager John Musante pulled a stunt that would have made P.T. Barnum proud, by announcing that an "offer had been accepted" by the current owner, Equity Residential, from affordable housing developer Beacon Communities.  An offer that required $1.25 million of Amherst tax money that was not yet appropriated.  

Town Meeting then took the bait and voted overwhelmingly to do the deal.

Thus the good news for affordable housing proponents is those 41 Rolling Green units are preserved (although town officials are not sure how many of them are the larger 3 or 4 bedroom units).

The even better news is now that we're (unofficially) below the 10% SHI another affordable housing developer will soon come calling, holding a "build-whatever-you-want" card courtesy of Ch40B. 

Jim Oldham:  $1.25 million is a "little bit of money."

Sophie's (Housing) Choice

Rolling Green Apartments

Having grown up in Amherst, on the wrong side of the tracks, in a single parent household, where my Irish mother had to rent out over half our home, I appreciate the monthly struggle to makes ends meet.

Amherst was not an easy place to afford back in the Kennedy era.  And it's far worse now.

So I sympathize with the tenants of 41 apartments at Rolling Green who face annual rent increases until all the subsidized units hit "market rate."  Which in Amherst only takes one word to describe:  expensive.

But I'm just not sure throwing $1.25 million in public money at the problem is the best solution.

Amherst Town Meeting will be asked to chip in that amount so that a unnamed "highly reputable affordable housing developer" can buy the entire complex -- all 204 units -- just to keep the 41 units forever affordable.

Kind of like the affordable tail wagging the market rate dog.

Two weeks ago Town Meeting approved the Amherst Affordable Housing Trust Fund as a repository for funds to be used to help put together public/private partnerships to jump start affordable housing building projects.

Might that $1.25 million be better spent enticing a brand new development in town rather than helping to purchase units that over 50 years old?

Because what Amherst really needs is more housing -- and LOTS of it.

Atkins North It Is!

Coming soon to a former cow barn near you:  Atkins Farms Country Market

After years of negotiations, and rumors, and a recent Internet petition that garnered over 350 signatures, the dream of bringing an iconic century old Amherst business anchored in the deep south part of town has now come true:

 Atkins Farms Country Market will open a 4,000 square foot bookend operation in the North Amherst Mill District -- twice as big as the Internet petition proposed operation would have been in the Trolley Barn.

Pauline Lannon (left) Cinda Jones (right) ink the deal

Atkins will be occupying the former cow barn (after extensive renovations of course) at 113 Cowls Road, and is expected to open in August of 2015. 

The store will certainly act as an anchor magnet to draw consumers to the sprawling North Amherst location that by then will be populated with many more service oriented businesses.  

12,000 square foot Trolley Barn, opening this September

14,400 square foot former sawmill, ready to rock once again

The Mill District from above

No Do Over For You!

 

Helen Berg at Select Board meeting 

Helen Berg's complaint about the Town Clerk not following state law by drawing names from a hat rather than alphabetically placing names on the ballot, would have been dismissed even if she had hired an attorney, as the town received permission to do so in the form of special state legislation w-a-y back in 1975.

 Aren't we special

That of course is why everybody forgot about it, and there was some brief concerned about Berg's threat to overturn the election where she lost by more than a landslide.

Now if we could just get the state legislature to approve downsizing Amherst Town Meeting from 240 to 60, we might actually attract qualified candidates armed with something this larger body is sorely lacking:  altruistic common sense.

The Retreat Marches On

 The Retreat, Definitive Plan

UPDATE 9:30 PM

As expected about 40 North Amherst residents showed up to the Conservation Commission meeting tonight to hear the team of 5 Landmark Properties consultants discuss the environmental issues relating to the property.

 Conservation Commission meeting 7:45 PM

About a half dozen neighbors spoke during public comment -- sometimes questioning the quality of the work performed -- but nothing was settled one way or the other.

 Landmark also hired a stenographer to record the meetings

A town picked "3rd party reviewer"(paid for by Landmark) will go over all the findings, retrace the field work, and report back to the Conservation Commission.   So tonight's public hearing was continued until July 23rd

NIMBYs hope maybe the town hired consultant will discover a unicorn lair on site.

Ira Bryck floats conspiracy theory the Cowls is trashing streams.  Response was, umm, No

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Retreat at Amherst, LLC -- aka Landmark Properties -- filed their "Definitive Subdivision Plan" yesterday with the Amherst Planning Department just under the May 29 deadline to avoid coming under new zoning bylaws (and permit cost increases) since filing their preliminary plan back in November.

They also wrote checks to the town totaling $82,536 for application and inspection fees, which underscores just how serious they take this badly needed housing project, situated on 147.3 acres of woodland in northeast Amherst.

 

Retreat:  plans

Retreat:  More plans

Landmark will also be paying (in the tens of thousands) for a planning consultant to help the Planning Board deal with a wheel barrel full of paperwork.

 Google Earth view.  Main entry now relocated to top left near town water treatment plant

The preliminary cluster plan had 123 lots with a total of 175 housing units with 71 of them single-family and 104 duplex for a total number of 641 occupants.  The definitive plan has the same numbers of units/occupants but spread out over a larger area.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the project is the targeted demographic for "occupants":  UMass students. Landmark Properties bills itself as, "one of the leading student housing development and management companies in the nation."

As such they are intimately familiar with NIMBY tactics and don't seem to mind investing years of effort (and tons of money) into making a project happen.   Since the initial deal was first hatched in February, 2013 we are already over a year in with no bulldozers in sight.

A traffic study by BETA Group concluded, "With the mitigation proposed the future traffic conditions resulting from the proposed residential development will provide for adequate and safe access to a public street, and will not have a detrimental effect on public safety and welfare in the study area."

One of the usual NIMBY complaints is higher traffic would increase accidents.

 The Next Steps:

   The Retreat- Planning Board Actions

This evening, Landmark Properties will present to the Amherst Conservation Commission their consultant's "wetland delineation" for the project, and naturally the NIMBYs will be out in force, loaded for bear. 

W.D. Cowls, Inc property off Henry Street.  Under contract for $6.5 million to Landmark Properties