Let us reflect on how much the spring 2016 Amherst Town Meeting accomplished on behalf of the residents of Amherst, our beloved town.
For starters, Town Meeting voted to block the hiring of a signage consultant. Instead, we said new signage bylaws should be written by “a citizen committee.” Business community take note.
Once again, Town Meeting succeeded in defeating “smart zoning,” or zoning that would qualify Amherst for state funding for roads, like the $4 million out of local services that we had to spend on Pine Street, with a two-year delay. How? By referring back to the Planning Board an article they spent hundreds of hours on over the last two years, with input from the entire community. And why? Amherst has not had new zoning since 1958, maybe next year. Why?
And Town Meeting succeeded at defeating a zoning change that would have given Amherst a modern library, with a roof that doesn’t leak. Instead, we forced library trustees to accept a footprint that eliminates the Kinsey garden and provides only the minimum services under state guidelines, with no options. Just in case the voters have a different idea and want something bigger. Why?
Further, a citizen’s petition aimed at defeating our new elementary school(s) — two schools in one building, mind you — was hotly debated and defeated by a less than 2-to-1 margin. Even though we have an elected School Committee with fiduciary duty, Town Meeting, by law, does not have fiduciary duty. So if we stop it here, the voters will never have the choice. Why?
OK, now who is going to tell our children that they are not getting the new library we promised them? Or that Town Meeting is fighting their new school(s)? Or defeating the zoning we need to grow and afford all this new stuff?
Fifty years from now, what will they say about the spring 2016 Amherst Town Meeting? Why?
Kevin Collins
Amherst