AMHERST — A three-story building that will be affiliated with Amherst College, which will include first-floor space for the Woodside Children’s Center and residential units on the upper levels, is being planned for two parcels on Dickinson Street.
Developer Barry Roberts, represented by attorney Thomas Reidy of Bacon Wilson, is seeking to build at 24 and 34 Dickinson St., according to an application filed with the Planning Department ahead of a Planning Board hearing Nov. 18 at 6:35 p.m. The building was designed by Kuhn Riddle Architects of Amherst.
Inside, there would be 19 units of faculty and staff housing with 29 beds, with the daycare space for 70 students, infants, toddlers and preschoolers. This would allow the program to move from its current 155 Woodside Ave. site, where it has been located since opening in the mid-1980s.
Woodside is a private, nonprofit center with capacity for 41 slots that gives admission priority to the Amherst College community, according to its website.
When complete, the site, which will be supported by landscaping, lighting, parking and outdoor space, will be managed and operated by the college, according to plans Reidy filed.
College spokeswoman Caroline Hanna confirmed the plans in an email: “Upon successful completion of the project on Dickinson, the college intends to lease the facility for childcare and the apartments to faculty and staff.”
To accommodate the development, with a total floor area of 27,870 square feet and a footprint of 9,070 square feet, the 19th-century single-family home at 24 Dickinson, a Greek Revival home known as the Charles M. Osgood House, was moved to North Whitney Street on Oct. 28.
The application states that the 19th-century home at 34 Dickinson, a Gothic Revival home known as the E. Dickinson House, will also be moved, pending Historical Commission approval.
Dickinson, whose first name is not known and who worked as a mechanic, is a possible relative to famed poet Emily Dickinson. Osgood is believed to have worked at the H.D. Fearing palm-leaf hat factory.
Civil Design Group LLC of North Andover has developed the site plans, showing a building set back from the road, set against the railroad tracks at the rear of the property, with 47 parking spaces and access both from Dickinson and the commercial properties to the south.
The developer is seeking both site plan review and two special permits, one for being 44.5 feet from the front property line, even though village center business zoning, which applies to both 24 and 34 Dickinson, requires developments to be either 10 or 20 feet from the front property line. The expanded distance is to accommodate the circulation of vehicles that will be dropping off and picking up children.
The other special permit is for making a payment in lieu of providing affordable housing on site. The developer intends to meet with the Amherst Affordable Housing Trust to discuss this.
The development is also using properties to the south, that are in limited business zone, for driveways. Those are 40 Dickinson St., now the Amherst College maintenance facility, and 44 Dickinson St., once a heating oil distribution facility for Whiting Oil.
From World War II until its closure in 2013, the 40 Dickinson site was first Paige’s Chevrolet and, beginning in 2002, Classic Chevrolet. That dealership traced its history to 1883, when TL Paige opened Paige’s Livery Stable on Amity Street.
