PLANNING BOARD MOVES FORWARD WITH MASTER PLAN UPDATE

REPORT ON THE ZONING SUBCOMMITTEE AND PLANNING BOARD MEETINGS OF 2/5/20

Zoning Subcommittee (February 4): Present: Members: Maria Chao, Christine Gray-Mullen, Janet McGowan, Michael Birtwistle. Staff: Christine Brestrup, Director of Planning. Guests: Bob Greeney, Maura Keene, Councilor Dorothy Pam, (District 3).

Planning Board (February 5): Present: all members above plus David Levenstein and Douglas Marshall.  Absent Jack Jemsek. Staff: Christine Brestrup and Pamela Sadler Field, Administrative Assistant.

Zoning Subcommittee
The zoning subcommittee devoted the majority of its February 4 meeting to developing a plan for updating the Master Plan, as requested of the Planning Board by the Town Council.  There was some debate about how extensive the update should be, with McGowan favoring a more comprehensive update, and Gray-Mullen and Chao leaning toward only what is immediately necessary and obvious.  

In the end, it was decided that Brestrup and the planning staff would flag areas of the 2010 plan that clearly needed to be updated and would cross reference relevant policies completed after the adoption of that plan. Chao presented a plan for feedback between the Planning Department, Planning Board and Town Council, as well as gathering input from the public,  to formulate a revised Master Plan that would be approved by the Planning Board and then adopted by the Council as required by the charter. The Planning Board will try to set aside at least an hour in one meeting each month to discuss the Master Plan suggestions chapter by chapter. Since there are 10 chapters in the 2010 Plan, this process should take nine to ten months.  The Community Resources Committee of the Council would then have 45 days to review the final draft and make suggestions. There would be a public hearing before the final adoption. (look here for a flow chart of the process).

Gray-Mullen is working with town IT staff to develop a page on the town website where citizens can comment on the changes proposed and make suggestions of their own.  The goal is to maintain robust feedback throughout the process in order to minimize revisions once the final draft is created.

It remains to be seen if a Master Plan subcommittee is needed, or if the topics can be discussed adequately at regular Planning Board meetings.  The general feeling at the zoning subcommittee was that the subcommittee should work on the urgent zoning bylaw changes needed, and not devote all its time to the Master Plan.  Also, the 2010 plan recommended formation of a Master Plan Implementation Committee appointed by the Select Board to track progress on the Plan goals. This committee was never formed, and it is unclear who would appoint and serve on this committee under the new form of government.

In other zoning subcommittee business, Brestrup will be presenting the new flood plain plans to Town Council on February 10.  The 90 day appeal period ends on February 20. There will need to be a zoning change proposed by the Planning Board and adopted by the council to implement the maps over the next six months.

Planning Board Meeting

New Projects
New projects that will probably be coming to the Planning Board soon are an office and apartment building proposed for South University Drive, the studio apartment supportive housing project at 132 Northampton Street, the new Amherst media building on Main Street, and a building proposed for Pray Street, near the former Pub restaurant. In addition, the zoning bylaw changes recommended by Building Commissioner Rob Morra and consideration of implementing 40R overlay zoning will also be discussed in coming months.

Szala Property Sale
At the Planning Board Meeting on February 5, Tom Reidy, Attorney for Bacon Wilson presented a request for withdrawal of the Szala property in North Amherst between Routes 63 and 116 from protected farmland status under chapter 61A.  There is now a prospective buyer. The 39 acres is mostly wetlands, with only about nine acres possibly viable for building. It is not currently being farmed. It was zoned as a professional research park over 30 years ago. The town has right of first refusal on any property being removed from Chapter 61A, but Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek stated that the town has concentrated on the preservation of land on the west side of route 116 and is not very interested in this small parcel.  The price to the town would be about $400,000 if it exercised its right to purchase. Any purchaser would need to pay the difference in the reduced tax rate for Chapter 61A property and the regular rate for the past five years. This would amount to about $13,000.

Pam wondered if the sale of this property has anything to do with the proposed Eruptor project for North Amherst, the think tank entrepreneurial enterprise which has been discussed over the past year https://www.theeruptor.com/.  Reidy said this was not the case as far as he knew.  The Planning Board voted 5 to 0, with McGowan abstaining, not to exercise the town’s right to purchase the property.  The Conservation Commission is also evaluating the property and will make its recommendation to Town Council, which will ultimately decide on the matter.

Center East Commons
Reidy also represented John Wrobeleski on a continuation of his revised site plan review for Center East Commons at 462 Main Street.  At the January 15 Planning Board Meeting, Wrobeleski presented a revised plan for the development, increasing the number of units from 16 to 24 by increasing the building by 2700 square feet, the foot print by 800 square feet, and adding more studios and one bedroom apartments.  The result of this reconfiguration was a reduction of parking spaces to 25 spaces for residents plus 3 handicapped spaces, 2 guest spaces, and 2 electrical vehicle charging spaces as opposed to the 48 required. 

Birtwistle and McGowan were concerned that the number of spaces was inadequate. Wrobeleski pointed out that the property was on a bus line and close to downtown.  He did a survey of parking spaces at various apartment complexes around town at 4:30 in the morning and found 36 per cent of the available spaces unused. He thought the parking was adequate.  Since Marshall was not on the board for the previous hearings, he was not eligible to vote. Jemsek was absent, so all five of the remaining board members needed to approve the project for it to go forward.  Because this unanimity was unlikely, Wrobeleski agreed to look at other arrangements, such as providing parking at his neighboring property, reduced rent for tenants without cars, and possibly including affordable units as suggested by Levenstein.  Chao said that she felt the project size was appropriate for the property and provided needed housing, so she hoped a solution could be worked out.

In an accessory matter, a special permit was requested for Wrobeleski’s neighboring property, an office building, which is nonconforming because it is too close to the lot line—four feet, instead of the required ten.  Wrobeleski wants to tear down the sagging rear part of that property and construct an addition of the same size for trash and bike storage. The Historical Commission had deemed that this would not be detrimental to the historic character of the  neighborhood. The request passed unanimously.

Levenstein reported that the Agricultural Commission had received a presentation on pollinators.  Because of the untended ground cover, solar farms are good places for pollinators. The commission also discussed encouraging more community gardens, possibly on green areas in developments.

Birtwistle indicated that the Community Preservation Act Committee would be finalizing its recommendation for projects to be funded at the meeting this week.

The Planning Board meeting adjourned at 10:16 PM.