AMHERST — Site plans for an 85-apartment development at the corner of Amity Street and University Drive, spread across two, four-story buildings totaling 14,000 square feet, will be examined by the Planning Board on Aug. 7.

The site plan review hearing and request for waivers from parking requirements begins at 6:35 p.m. and marks the next phase of the approvals needed for the mixed-use project, to be called 422 Amity Street, proposed by UDrive Amity LLC, whose principal is Amherst developer Barry Roberts. 

Plans for the development show the apartments taking up a 5.3-acre site that currently has two buildings and parking. One of the buildings has been vacant since Pleasantrees cannabis shop closed in August 2023. That building was best known as the former Rafters Sports Bar and Restaurant. The other building, opened in 2004, houses the Encharter insurance company and other businesses. 

The project is to have a mix of market-rate and affordable housing, just a few hundred feet from the University of Massachusetts campus. 

Artist conceptions prepared by Kuhn Riddle Architects of Amherst show one L-shaped building facing both Amity Street and University Drive, and the second a rectangular building. Parking is situated between the buildings, based on a site plan prepared by Civil Design Group LLC of North Andover.

Over the winter, the Zoning Board of Appeals issued variances that will allow the new buildings to rise to 57 feet, taller than the 45 feet allowed in the limited business zone, and to contain more apartment units than otherwise permitted by town zoning.

The project is being proposed separate from a proposed overlay district along the same section of University Drive that would encourage construction of more apartments and mixed-use buildings, as well as social dormitories for college students. That proposal from the Planning Board would be considered by the Town Council.

The development could also help spur receipt of a MassWorks Infrastructure Grant that would provide the town the money to construct a roundabout at the intersection. Town committees are beginning to examine the possibility with Department of Public Works Superintendent Guilford Mooring.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.