AMHERST – Revisions to the zoning rules for development of mixed-use buildings, meant to improve the permitting process for developers and create design standards for town officials to apply to such projects, will have to wait.
Town Meeting on Monday referred an article back to the Planning Board for more study, as representatives from the business community, which supports such projects, and those with concerns about mixed-use developments becoming off-campus dormitories, spoke against adopting the changes.
Among the adjustments raising concerns were allowing parking areas for vehicles and bicycles to be counted as a non-residential use on the ground level, which otherwise must be mostly occupied by commercial groups, and requiring these buildings to have a certain appearance.
“It would require nonresidential uses to predominate on the main floor and be located on the street front, with ‘ample’ windows and entrances to enhance the utility and interest of the public space,” the Planning Board wrote in its report to Town Meeting,
Jerry Guidera, interim executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, said there was a feeling that the bylaw would not work, and would instead make it harder to pursue these developments.
“We like the idea of mixed use, but not this particular product,” Guidera said.
In a memo to Town Meeting members, Guidera wrote that developers want to see new provisions that encourage work/live spaces for both short- and long-term tenancies, and additional hotel capacity to draw tourists to downtown Amherst. The proposed changes would not promote either.
“These changes wouldn’t simplify our complicated set of development and densification options in the downtown; they would have the opposite effect, discouraging mixed-use projects,” Guidera wrote.
Sarah la Cour, executive director of the Amherst Business Improvement District, agreed that the bylaw language changes need to be fixed and that referral to the board was appropriate.
“That’s fine with us. That’s a good outcome,” la Cour said.
Geoffrey Kravitz, the economic development director for the town, told Town Meeting that the amendment might discourage some development on lots with steep grades because it creates uncertainty for developers.
Projects like Kendrick Place and Boltwood Place in downtown, and the Trolley Barn in the Mill District of North Amherst, have both retail and office on the ground level and apartments on the upper floors.
The bylaw changes would have allowed parking to be considered a non-residential use on the ground level. Denise Barberet of Precinct 9, a former member of the Planning Board, made a motion to delete this clause. No vote was taken on her amendment once the article was referred back to planners.
Barberet said she remains concerned that such an approach would bring residential projects at the expense of retail in downtown Amherst and village centers.
“By essentially watering down the definition of mixed use and by not mandating retail or office uses on the first and maybe even second floors, we could conceivably see just another residential enclave, which could work, but again, we shouldn’t get it through a de facto process of bait-and-switch,” Barberet said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
