AMHERST — A $5 million development that will feature 28 affordable studio apartments on a Route 9 site adjacent to Amherst College’s playing fields is being endorsed by the Planning Board.
Town planners voted 7-0 to support Valley Community Development Corp.’s project at 132 Northampton Road, a property it acquired more than a year ago.
The board’s vote at its last Wednesday meeting comes in advance of Zoning Board of Appeals hearings, expected to commence later this year, which will determine whether a comprehensive permit is issued under the state’s chapter 40B comprehensive zoning law.
The project is currently in the midst of a 30-day public comment period, concluding Wednesday, after Valley CDC submitted an application to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.
Already, the town has provided Valley CDC $200,000 from a Community Development Block Grant and $500,000 from the Community Preservation Act account, with an additional $50,000 awarded from the Charlesbank Foundation.
Laura Baker, Valley CDC’s real estate project manager, said the current plans, by Austin Design of Greenfield and Brattleboro, Vermont, are to demolish the existing home and replace it with a 2½-story building containing apartments averaging 245 square feet in size, each with a kitchenette and bathroom.
Baker said the decision to take down the home came mainly because it is “pinned” to the back lot line, close to Pratt Field. Removing the home will give the project more buffer from neighboring properties and will improve accessibility, Baker said.
The building will include 10 apartments for people who are currently homeless or transitioning from homelessness, two for people referred by the Department of Mental Health, eight for those earning 50% of the area median income, and eight for those earning 80% of the area median income. At the upper level, an occupant can earn $49,700 a year.
The building will also include an office for a resident services coordinator and a property management office. Baker said the level of supportive services is higher than other similar projects the organization has undertaken.
Valley CDC Executive Director Joanne Campbell said the size of the building will be similar to the Sergeant House on Bridge Street in Northampton, which opens this spring with 31 studio apartments in a renovated and expanded building at the edge of downtown.
Planner Maria Chao said the scale of the project is appropriate for the neighborhood, and she appreciates that significant green space will remain between the building and Route 9.
Planner Michael Birtwistle said the project answers the need for affordable housing in Amherst.
Several members of the public also spoke in favor of the plans, including Melissa Standley, who said the project will allow the town to live up to its progressive values and resist the “classist wall” in which some landlords only rent to students and academics.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.