AMHERST — Amherst Media will likely have to modify its plans for a new headquarters, including revising the design of the building and altering its location on Main Street, before the Planning Board can approve the project.
With extensive concerns expressed by those who live near the site where Amherst Media would build, the Planning Board on Wednesday, March 20, agreed to continue the hearing on the site plans to May 29.
Bucky Sparkle, the civil engineer working on behalf of Amherst Media, said the two-month postponement will give sufficient time to redo plans for the 4,080-square-foot, 32-foot-tall building that will be built on 0.56 acres of open land.
The Planning Board hearing came a week after the Local Historic District Commission voted 4-0 against issuing a certificate of appropriateness for the proposed $1.3 million production facility and technology center, citing concerns with the architecture of the proposed building and where it would be positioned on the property.
Planning Board Chairman Gregory Stutsman said approvals for the project must follow parallel paths, meaning that the project will need to get affirmative votes from both committees before it can start.
Several neighbors, including Jessica Wilkinson of Gray Street, spoke against the project as currently envisioned.
Wilkinson told the board that the plans that came before Town Meeting in 2013, when the land was rezoned to neighborhood business zoning, showed the proposed building at the corner of Gray and Main streets.
Instead, the planned building has now moved west, meaning those passing by the site would have a compromised view of the historic Henry Hills House and Amherst Woman’s Club buildings.
Charlene Moran, president of the Amherst Woman’s Club, said when the club learned the project would compromise its ability to hold events on the grounds and in the gardens of its Triangle Street site, members became concerned. These activities, such as weddings and other receptions, have been a source of income to maintain the building.
The open landscape in front of the Hills mansion has been a long-standing concern. In 2008, Amherst Town Meeting voted to spend $360,000 to protect the historic landscape using $81,000 in town money, $189,000 from a state grant, and $90,000 from private donations. But the town never received the state grant, and the land was eventually sold to Amherst Media.
The view, though, has improved in recent years, with the renovation of the Hills mansion. Long used by the Amherst Boys and Girls Club, it was overhauled by developer Jerry Guidera, who also removed trees blocking its view from Main Street.
Robert Speiser and Anthony Brackett, the new owners of the Hills House, have offered to purchase back the lots and turn over a portion of them for a historic garden. Amherst Media has not yet responded to this proposal.
Planning Board member Maria Chao, who is an architect, suggested that Amherst Media’s representatives return in May with a scale three-dimensional model that will give both her board and the public a better sense of how the project will fit on the site.
