AMHERST — A petition that calls on the Town Council to reconsider its recent vote creating a new overlay district for a second downtown Amherst parking garage is circulating in advance of Monday’s council meeting.
Using the voter-veto section of the town charter, which gives residents 14 days to collect the signatures from 5% of registered voters at the most recent town election, the petition states that residents “protest the Dec. 20, 2021 vote by the Amherst Town Council to rezone Map 14A, Parcel 33.”
That 9-4 vote approved a zoning change so that the 0.68-acre municipal parking lot between North Pleasant and North Prospect streets can be the site of a new parking structure. The parking facility overlay district would be on town-owned property bordered by the parish center at St. Brigid’s Church to the north and the CVS Pharmacy parking lot to the south.
An opinion piece published to the Amherst Indy blog in support of the petition, written by Ira Bryck of Strong Street, cites the need for a “deeper exploration” of both the need for parking and the site where a new garage might be built, adding that those who oppose the rezoning are not anti-business or “not in my backyard” activists.
“They think that the garage proposal is a big decision, and the wrong way to decide is to tell the Planning Department to only consider this one site, and never mind about the parking studies,” Bryck writes.
Though supported by the business community as part of a Destination Amherst initiative, and by a supermajority of councilors, significant opposition was voiced by those on North Prospect Street who live near the site.
Sarah McKee of Chadwick Court, one of the residents leading the petition drive, said Sunday that if 810 signatures are collected, it would satisfy the requirements of a voter veto and force reconsideration. McKee said she doesn’t expect the signatures to be certified prior to the new council’s initial meeting on Monday.
Still, a preface attached to the petition notes that if five councilors agree to reconsideration, the topic could be revisited and the overlay district might be undone because it would no longer have the two-thirds support necessary for all zoning changes.
The makeup of the council is changing, with two of the leading proponents of the overlay district, District 3 Councilor George Ryan and District 4 Councilor Evan Ross, both leaving. They are among six councilors departing, along with two who voted against the measure, District 5 Councilor Darcy DuMont and District 1 Councilor Sarah Swartz.
This marks the second time the voter veto petition has been used. Last April, those concerned with the scope of the Jones Library renovation and expansion used it, though the town clerk’s office ruled that they didn’t collect enough signatures. The Town Council put the project to a Nov. 2 referendum, at which time 65% of voters gave it support.
As the town is moving forward with the building, a Hampshire Superior Court lawsuit remains active, arguing that the project failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
