Zoning Subcommittee Begins Clarification Of Proposed Zoning Changes

The meeting was held January 12, 2021 as a Zoom webinar and was recorded.

Participants: Zoning Subcommittee Members: Maria Chao (Chair), Janet McGowan, Doug Marshall, Andrew MacDougall Absent: Thom Long
Staff: Christine Brestrup (Planning Director) 

The Zoning Subcommittee (ZSC) of the Planning Board last met in February 2020, before the closure of Town buildings because of the pandemic. Although there was talk of resuming meetings, the efforts of the Community Resources Committee of the Town Council to drive zoning changes led to the ZSC being put on hiatus. Now that the Town Council has passed a set of zoning priorities for the staff to work on, the Planning Board has reconvened the ZSC to flesh out the implications of the proposed changes. New Planning Board members Doug Marshall and Andrew MacDougall joined existing ZSC members Maria Chao and Janet McGowan for the meeting.

The new zoning priorities passed by the Town Council at their January 4 meeting were divided into those the Council thought were feasible to accomplish by March 15 and those to be completed by September 1 . Three of the early goals are: adding footnote b to the Limited Business (B-L) district near downtown, increasing the allowable size of supplemental dwelling units from 800 square feet to 1,000 square feet (1,100 square feet for accessible units), and eliminating footnote m, which establishes the minimum lot size per unit in the General Residence (R-G) district, which surrounds the downtown. Reworking the demolition delay bylaw was deemed not to fall under the purview of zoning and is being revised by the Historical Commission with advice from the Building Commissioner. 

After a lively discussion about how the ZSC should tackle these goals in the next two months, members decided to concentrate on adding footnote b in the B-L district. Adding footnote b would allow buildings containing residential space to be exempt from requirements for basic minimum lot area, additional lot area per unit, and minimum frontage. Currently, each additional dwelling unit in the B-L must have an extra 4,000 square feet of lot size. Adding footnote b would eliminate this requirement and allow construction of as many units as can be fit into a three-story building, which is the maximum height allowable in the B-L. (The Town Council also wants to add footnote a to the maximum building coverage requirement, which is 35 percent in the B-L and maximum lot coverage of 85 percent; this would allow all size requirements in the B-L to be waivable).

In a February 2016 memo to then ZSC chair Rob Crowner, Planning Director Christine Brestrup wrote that adding footnote b to the B-L could allow the number of dwelling units on a 14,000 square foot lot to go from 0 to 8 for a mixed use building. On a 40,000 square foot lot, allowable density would go from 6 to 24 units, and on a 100,000 square foot lot from 21 to 62 units. These figures are based on 1,000 square feet per unit. If smaller units are built, these numbers could easily be doubled. Apartment buildings, which would require special permits, could include even more units. And because B-L apartments (adjacent to downtown) would be part of the municipal parking district, no on-site parking would be required for residents. Brestrup wrote that “if density is substantially increased in the B-L zoning district without first dealing with parking issues, it could exacerbate the perceived parking problem and raise people’s concerns about development.” She also pointed out that “asking residents to accept more density in the B-L while they are still coping with and adapting to increased development downtown will only raise their level of concern.”

A considerable increase in density will be allowed if footnote b is added to the regulations for the B-L district; this is why it was never brought before Town Meeting, which required a 2/3 vote to pass. Brestrup said that the Planning Department has not had a chance to dive deeply into the proposed change, to clarify the sizes of apartments, regulations for mixed-use buildings, the effects on parking, and the effects on neighboring homes. Brestrup concluded, “Further review of the Master Plan goals and discussion with the public about our collective vision for the downtown may be helpful before proposing increased density in the B-L.”

However, as an example of how the current zoning regulations may inhibit development, Brestrup discussed a proposal from Barry Roberts and Curt Shumway to combine two lots on the corner of Hallock and North Pleasant Street in order to construct an office building. (The project was scrubbed when the intended tenant found other quarters.) A building containing housing probably would have been feasible, but even with the two lots, the site was not large enough to have residential units under the current zoning.

ZSC members decided to work on various aspects of the potential effects of the proposal to facilitate development in the B-L district near downtown. McGowan asked  if  this goal could be achieved outside of the broad change of adding footnote b. She said she will look at other options to increase housing density without totally abandoning the number of units allowed. She said she hopes that increasing dwelling units near downtown would provide more housing for seniors and workforce housing.

Marshall noted that combining lots would allow larger projects to be built, which may not be consistent with the view of Amherst as a New England town. Although McGowan worried about building more student housing downtown, Marshall said most of the complaints he has heard about One East Pleasant and Kendrick Place revolve around the size and design of the buildings, not the residents. Chao, as a “green architect,” said she is in favor of more housing downtown, but McGowan noted that no design standards are specified in either the CRC memo or the Town Council priorities. Chao and Marshall will look into designs and what a maximum buildout would look like. MacDougall will examine the lots in the B-L district near downtown to see what development would be possible if some lots were combined.

The ZSC decided to meet weekly on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. They will work at establishing a place on the Town website where ideas can be shared with the public and feedback gathered.

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