AMHERST — After more than seven months leading the Planning Department on an interim basis, Christine Brestrup on Wednesday was named to the permanent planning director position.
Peter Hechenbleikner, interim town manager, announced the decision to the Select Board Wednesday, saying that he removed the interim tag after Brestrup did admirable work in the temporary leadership role.
“We know what her capabilities are in that role, and she filled them admirably,” Hechenbleikner said.
Brestrup, 65, said she begins her new tenure with talented staff, including three senior planners: Jeffrey Bagg, Nathaniel Malloy and Jonathan Tucker. Brestrup succeeded Tucker when he decided to step aside as he nears retirement.
“I’m starting off with a lot of optimism,” Brestrup said of being named permanent director, observing that her biggest immediate change will be moving from a cubicle to a new office and getting updated business cards.
“I’m looking forward to serving all of the people of Amherst,” Brestrup said. “It’s a wonderful town and its future is bright. I’m glad to be an active participant in shaping Amherst’s future.”
Hechenbleikner said Brestrup will have more discretion in running the department now that she is the permanent director.
“My expectation with Christine now is that she will basically helm the department, put her stamp on it and lead it in the direction she and the town manager decide it needs to go,” Hechenbleikner said.
A senior planner since 2003, and a student intern prior to that while in graduate school at the University of Massachusetts, Brestrup in September replaced Tucker as part of a reorganization announced by Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek following conversations with Tucker and the late Town Manager John Musante.
At the time, Brestrup cited the importance of professional development of department staff members and fostering more interdepartmental communication about planning issues.
Amherst Business Improvement Director Sarah la Cour said she has tremendous respect for Brestrup.
“I think Chris is great. She’s a great landscape architect and a great planner,” la Cour said.
But at the same time, la Cour said there could have been an opportunity to advertise the position to see if there was interest in the job in the wider area, which could have brought in new perspectives. “It might have been good to launch a search outside the community,” la Cour said.
Hechenbleikner said the time to do such a search would have been seven months ago, but he saw no reason to suggest that option because of the excellent job Brestrup has done.
Former Planning Board member Denise Barberet, who at times has been critical of the Planning Department, said going with someone who is known and respected makes sense, adding that Brestrup will have a balanced approach toward development.
“Greater objectivity and impartial guidance will result in projects that have much more community support,” Barberet said.
Maurianne Adams, a Precinct 10 Town Meeting member who regularly attends Planning Board meetings, agrees.
“In my view, she is well qualified, not only by training and experience, but also her scrupulous neutrality on contested zoning and development issues,” Adams said in an email.
Brestrup said she hopes she can create unity for vision of economic development and zoning changes, which can be accomplished through more outreach to the community. “I’d very much like people to come together,” Brestrup said.
Hechenbleikner said part of Brestrup’s job will be to continue rebuilding trust in the planning department.
Still, there have been continued concerns expressed by Town Meeting members about planning initiatives. At Monday’s session, members removed from the capital plan a $20,000 item to hire a consultant to rewrite the town’s five-page sign bylaw.
Kevin Collins of Precinct 5 sent an email to the Select Board saying this was a bad decision. “We are long overdue for new signs and turning it over to a citizen’s committee will cost businesses a lot of money,” Collins wrote.
Hechenbleikner responded to Collins: “We need to do some outreach on getting the planning function of Amherst government back to a position of being respected.”
La Cour said the current sign bylaw is flawed, that too much is left to interpretation, and it is unclear if the bylaw is legally defensible.
Brestrup addressed Town Meeting, explaining that the Planning Department, Planning Board and Building Commissioner Robert Morra “have been struggling with an outdated sign bylaw that is confusing, to say the least.”
“The building commissioner and the planning department support a complete rewrite of the sign bylaw,” Brestrup said. ” And it is only five pages, I agree with that, but there are a lot of contentious aspects to this. Hiring a planning and design consultant to help us to do this would be a really good idea.”
But the expense was still defeated, following a motion by Barberet. But Barberet said even when she disagrees with Brestrup, it doesn’t change the fact that having her as planning director is the right decision.
“When I was on the Planning Board, I was always very impressed with the objective manner in which she presented projects to the board,” Barberet said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
