AMHERST — Patrons at the North Amherst Library will soon have dedicated off-street parking when they visit the branch of the Jones Library.
The Select Board last week accepted the deed for the .81-acre property at 24 Montague Road, the long-time site of a service station, so it can be acquired from Village Auto Service owner Joseph Sacco.
Town Meeting approved the $675,000 purchase in November.
The immediate municipal use for the property will be for parking, said Town Manager Paul Bockelman.
The plan, Bockelman said, is to install signs that will direct patrons to park on the south side of the property, which some have used informally for decades. “It will be a little more formalized,” Bockelman said.
Other patrons park along the busy Montague and Sunderland roads.
The main purpose for the acquisition remains to realign the intersection of Montague and Sunderland roads, though there is no funding or final plans for this, said Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek.
“The exact reconfiguration has not yet been determined yet,” Ziomek said. “Once the property is purchased, we would then have an even more public process, in all likelihood through the Transportation Advisory Committee developing plans for that intersection.”
Sacco will have to remove material from the late 1960s-era building on site within a certain timeframe, Ziomek said.
Bockelman said town officials will take steps to secure the building, once it is vacant, and then plan for its demolition.
“There’s no rush on that,” Bockelman said.
Ziomek said the Department of Public Works will be responsible for clearing snow and that DPW Superintendent Guilford Mooring is making plans to add this to the work schedule.