AMHERST — Town planners are aiming to prevent proposed zoning changes to temporarily halt downtown multi-tenant developments and to protect neighborhoods from college-student rentals, measures that supporters say would prioritize housing opportunities for year-round residents.
After opting against continuing the hearing on the zoning articles or referring them to its housing subcommittee, the Planning Board, in identical 6-1 votes Wednesday, is recommending the Town Council not pass the amendments.
Under one article brought forward by petition, a moratorium would be in place until revised design standards for the downtown are approved and a housing production plan is adopted, while the other article contemplates strategies to zone for livability, affordability and balance.
Planning Board members appeared skeptical that such zoning amendments would be beneficial to increasing housing stock.
“In my experience, constraining an already limited supply of housing will drive prices up rather than down, in which case this may inadvertently impact low- and middle-income families more,” said board member Jerah Smith.
“I think a moratorium on building new housing actually runs counter to our housing production goals,” said board member Johanna Neumann.
Board member Angus McLeod said he is uncomfortable with part of the petition that requires the University of Massachusetts to do more to house students. “I’m not sure that’s something a bylaw should specify,” McLeod said.
“It feels like this proposal is trying to circumvent a set of priorities we’ve established are important to this community,” McLeod said.
Board member Bruce Coldham attempted to bring the moratorium to a subcommittee and suggested the only benefit might be if UMass would take up that suggestion. “I just don’t see the need for this, and I think it’s taking up time,” Coldham said.
“We share every one of these concerns, these goals, these objectives, there’s no daylight between our aspirations and the petitioners’ aspirations,” Coldham said.
Only board member Jesse Mager dissented, saying that he views the petitions as an opportunity to talk about large-scale projects and initiatives that the board wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.
Darcy DuMont, a former councilor and one of the lead petitioners, said the town has reached a tipping point because Amherst has only 13,000 year-round residents and needs a redirection to make sure year-round residents have adequate housing.
DuMont suggested that the board refer the proposals to its subcommittee on housing for full discussion before making a recommendation, adding that the proposals represent the feelings not just of the 19 signatories, but of a huge number of town residents, as shown by around 1,000 people who supported the 2021 temporary moratorium on downtown building and the over 450 Amherst residents who so far have signed a petition asking that more students be housed on the UMass campus.
“I was surprised that the board acted so summarily when there were plenty of options for them to discuss them further, and ask for friendly amendments that could help stem the flow of low and moderate residents from Amherst,” DuMont said.
Another lead petitioner, Kitty Axelson-Berry, said the articles could open conversation about what UMass is doing with housing and reduce the significant impact of students.
“We’re looking for ways in which we can have something other than a bedroom community, something other than a monoculture in Amherst,” Axelson-Berry said.
After the meeting, she said, “We were pleased that some members of the Planning Board understand our support for a livable town with a diverse year-round population and economy — and that not enough has been done to achieve it.”
She hopes that this could lead to a conversation about how the town’s housing production plan needs to address would-be residents such as young families, service workers and other professionals, senior citizens and low- and middle-income workers, and others.
All current Amherst residents who spoke to the Planning Board said something has to be done.
Debra Utting of Gray Street said that in the three years since moving to the neighborhood she has seen students increasingly crowd out families.
“The houses are being bought up by investors, and we feel like the full-time permanent residents are in the minority,” Utting said.
“The notion that building more apartments in town would bring down the rental prices for everybody has proven to be absolutely false,” said Ken Rosenthal of Sunset Avenue. In fact, he said the opposite has happened, as upscale apartments open up rent prices are increasing.
Mindi Sahner of Dickinson Street a 35-year resident, said for those who have been in town a long time, the impact of student rentals, especially in Amherst center, is negative.
“I’ve just seen a diminishing of what one can accomplish in the downtown,” Sahner said.