AMHERST – Even though an objective of the master plan is to get more people living in downtown Amherst, a zone change that would give developers an opportunity to build more mixed-used projects on the edges of downtown will not come before annual Town Meeting.
The Amherst Business Improvement District this week asked the Planning Board to withdraw an article that would adjust the development rules in the limited business areas surrounding Amherst center.
Amherst BID Executive Director Sarah la Cour said Wednesday that the request was made because there were too many questions being asked about the proposal, which, if passed by Town Meeting, would allow the Planning Board to issue special permits and waive the current requirement of a 20,000-square-foot minimum lot area for a mixed-use project in the limited business zoning district.
“One of the things we’ve said is we’ve needed density downtown, and mixed-use buildings are a perfect place to do it,” la Cour said.
But la Cour said many concerns with the proposal centered on the municipal parking district, which allows buildings to be built without providing any on-site parking for residential and commercial tenants.
In the general business, village center business and neighborhood business zones, town planners can waive the minimum lot area requirement. But in the limited business zone, developers need to have at least 20,000-square-foot properties to include one residential unit, and an additional 4,000 square feet for each additional dwelling, la Cour said.
Property constraints in downtown, la Cour said, have made new mixed-use buildings in this district impossible, and have also mean that existing buildings are not in compliance with town zoning. The areas that would have been affected by the change are on the east side of South Prospect Street near the Amherst Cinema; the north side of Triangle Street, where strip-mall style development has occurred; and on the west side of Kendrick Park along North Pleasant Street, where numerous former homes have been converted into retail shops.
It is this area near Kendrick Park where developers Barry Roberts and J. Curtis Shumway have proposed demolishing two historic homes to make way for an office building.
Because the properties are in the limited business area, adding any residential units would be challenging, la Cour said.
La Cour said business leaders want the matter taken up at fall Town Meeting and have asked for assurances that planners will bring it back.
“We absolutely want to see it in the fall,” la Cour said. “That gives us time to educate.”
Meanwhile, another change that would separate limited business and commercial properties into two categories, rather than one combined category as it is now, will still come to Town Meeting. La Cour said this is a technical fix of the dimensional table of the town’s zoning bylaw.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
