AMHERST — At its fourth and final session Monday night, Town Meeting shot down a zone change that would have required developers to provide more affordable housing in large-scale projects.
In other business, members also sent a request to adjust downtown zoning aimed at spurring economic development to the Planning Board for more study.
The zoning changes proposed for large-scale projects failed by a 99-87 vote, despite the Planning Board for the first time acknowledging that projects with 10 or more homes or apartments requiring any type of special permit would trigger the need to provide units for low- and moderate-income families.
Previously, the Planning Board contended that the so-called inclusionary bylaw, adopted in 2005, is only in effect when a special permit relates to use, not to circumventing dimensional regulations, such as the height of a building or lot coverage.
The Planning Board endorsed the amendment to the inclusionary bylaw this time around, however.
“It is just one of many tools the town must use to promote affordable housing,” Planning Board member Gregory Stutsman said.
Under the proposed change, the One East Pleasant project under construction would have been required to have four affordable units when it was permitted, said Planning Director Christine Brestrup. The project will have 135 units, none of which are affordable.
But Town Meeting members argued that the language of the inclusionary zoning bylaw is not subject to interpretation by the Planning Board and Planning Department.
“This is not a question of what the town wants, it’s a matter of what the bylaw says,” said John Fox of Precinct 10.
Mandi Jo Hanneke of Precinct 5 said it would be a good compromise after the contentiousness of previous efforts to mandate that all special permits trigger affordable requirements.
By wide margins, Town Meeting representatives opted to have the Planning Board do more study about rezoning several parcels in downtown from limited business to general business. The change would have given more flexibility for what can be built along North Pleasant Street between Hallock Street and Cowles Lane, on South Prospect Street near Amity Street and at the intersection of Triangle and Cottage streets.
John Kuhn, principal of Kuhn-Riddle Architects, said the areas are in the heart of downtown and should be treated more like the rest of the commercial district, meaning denser lot coverage, taller buildings and residential units.
“(The) limited business zone is really a dysfunctional zone,” Kuhn said.
Jerry Guidera of Precinct 9 said his motivation for offering the amendments were to enhance the tax base to help pay for the various buildings under consideration, including the elementary school project and an expanded and renovated Jones Library.
“The main issue here is taxes,” Guidera said, adding that the rezoning would help to create an environment for people to live, work and play in downtown.
Precinct 4 representative Carol Johnson, executive director of the Amherst Cinema, said the rezoning would have a positive impact if the theater found it needed to expand beyond its four screens.
“It would really allow Amherst Cinema to dream about its future,” Johnson said.
But Gerry Weiss of Precinct 8 said an economic impact study should be done and that there was no cohesive ideas behind the zoning request.
In other business, Town Meeting supported, by a 95-77 tally, a nonbinding measure demanding that the intersection of East Pleasant and Triangle streets not be turned into a roundabout, even though the Select Board has previously endorsed the project.
Eliminating the roundabout, said petitioner Vincent O’Connor of Precinct 1, is a “safer, less costly alternative.
Bruce Coldham of Precinct 3 called Town Meeting’s interference in a decision made by the elected board “micromanaging to the extreme.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
