AMHERST — Even as mixed-use projects rise in the commercial core, and Amherst center could have its first new office building constructed in more than 30 years, downtown development continues to be restrained by current zoning.
That was among the messages voiced at the inaugural event of a joint chamber and Amherst Business Improvement District’s Business Leadership and Policy Series held Tuesday at the Unitarian Meetinghouse.
The main commercial corridor of North Pleasant Street, for instance, still has a gasoline station and a funeral parlor among its businesses, and this 1950s-style development doesn’t translate well to a 21st-century economy, said Tony Maroulis, director of external relations at the University of Massachusetts.
“We so want to compete with a city like Northampton, but we’re plotted more like Florence,” Maroulis said.
Maroulis, the former executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, was among the panelists who addressed the event’s theme, “Reimagining the Downtown Economy.”
Peter Vickery, a member of the chamber’s board of directors, said the goal of this series is develop policy proposals that will help businesses flourish in downtown Amherst.
Geoffrey Kravitz, the town’s economic development director, told an audience of about 20, including business leaders and town officials, that downtown Amherst has to capture enterprises that don’t require large buildings, similar to the MassMutual data science office that opened on the first floor of Kendrick Place last year.
“The biggest challenge in downtown is space,” Kravitz said.
Having a critical mass of people living and working in the center, Kravitz said, will spur the return of retail to a downtown that has been dominated by restaurants, along with some offices. He said he believes this can happen.
“I see a more urban environment in 10 years, with more housing, more offices and more restaurants,” Kravitz said.
Opened more than a century ago, A.J. Hastings has long been a part of the economy in Amherst center.
Co-owner Sharon Povinelli, involved in the town’s retail scene for 28 years, said she sees a divide between those in Amherst who want change and those who want the status quo.
“I think people come downtown because they want to experience a sense of community,” Povinelli said.
Povinelli said business leaders need to engage with people to promote development in Amherst while protecting its small-town charms.
Maroulis said the transition of the commercial district has been going on for a long time, but has not yet achieved the changes business owners desire. “I don’t think we’ve quite figured out what we want to be,” Maroulis said.
One potential change that could affect the downtown is adjusting the limited business zoning areas that restrict the size of projects. Town Meeting this fall may be asked to change these to general business zoning that gives developers more flexibility.
Kravitz said the limited business zoning has not encouraged the development or growth envisioned in the town’s master plan.
John Kuhn, principal at Kuhn Riddle Architects, said the town’s zoning bylaw is flawed. “It really needs serious work,” Kuhn said.
In addition, the section of North Pleasant Street between downtown and UMass is not appropriately zoned to allow a natural connection between the two.
That “dead zone” is one area that is being studied by the University-Town of Amherst Collaborative, Kravitz said. The collaborative which brings together town, business and UMass officials, is also exploring what could attract students downtown, such as a live performance venue.
It’s a matter of figuring out what UMass is not offering students, or offering the same things and doing it better, Kravitz said.
Kravitz said he is confident this can happen. “The business community can move much faster than the university,” Kravitz said.
The downtown’s current amenities and activities are not a draw for students, Maroulis said, but deliberate programming, like the recent Block Party, seem to draw that audience.
“There’s so much opportunity and potential here,” Maroulis said.
Povinelli said there are times of high activity at Hastings, such as when students return in the fall to pick up supplies, and around the holiday shopping season. But other times are what she calls “deserts” of activity.
“There are huge gaps between when students are here and when they’re not,” Povinelli said.
Though leaders of both the chamber and Business Improvement District have supported a second downtown parking garage, Tuesday’s panelists suggested that Amherst center already has sufficient parking. However, Povinelli said if the town had a bigger, more visible parking garage, it would reduce the anxiety of people visiting.
Kravitz said a key is alleviating the stress on parking at peak times.
Merchants also are confronting a growing number of panhandlers and people living on the streets.
When they are disruptive and stealing merchandise, that is an issue that cannot easily be solved, even when police are called to the scene, Povinelli said.
“It’s very difficult for a business owner to have to deal with that on top of everything else,” Povinelli said.
If nothing else, Kravitz said the homeless population shows that Amherst is not the rural town some believe it is, but rather than urban center.
The panel discussion came on the one-year anniversary of Town Manager John Musante’s death, with panelists and others wearing purple ribbons bearing his initials.
Kravitz said part of Musante’s vision included creating the town’s economic development director, setting in motion the University-Town of Amherst Collaborative and promoting high-tech development in downtown.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
