Planning Board Examines Impact Of COVID-19 On Amherst Economy

Decision On 40R Zoning Postponed Indefinitely

Report On The Joint Meeting of the Planning Board and Town Council (1/20/21)

The meeting was held as a Zoom webinar, was simulcast on Amherst Media Channel 17, and was recorded.

Participating:
Planning Board members: all

Town Councilors: President Lynn Griesemer (District 2) , Mandi-Jo Hanneke (at large), George Ryan (District 3), Pat DeAngelis (District 2), Darcy DuMont (District 5), Dorothy Pam (District 3), Evan Ross (District 4), Sarah Swartz (District 1)

Staff: Town Manager Paul Bockelman, Planner Christine Brestrup, and Administrative Assistant Pam Field-Sadler

Additional attendees: 31 people from the community

Presentation On The Impacts Of COVID-19
Doug Hall (Data Manager/Analyst of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, PVPC) gave a presentation on The Initial Impacts of COVID-19 on the Pioneer Valley, with a focus on Amherst. Hall joined the PVPC in 2020, just one month prior to the start of the pandemic shutdown. He is a 14-year resident of Amherst. The slides from his presentation can be viewed in the packet for this meeting at, beginning on page 11.

Hall noted that the economic and health aspects of the pandemic are intertwined and that “we can’t fix one without fixing the other.” He hopes that the new federal government installed on the day of this meeting will offer better plans, based on science, to deal with the current situation. Although he has faith in both the new programs proposed by the government and the experts in charge of them, he said we face continued economic pain in unemployment and housing. Eviction moratoriums have been “kicking the can down the road” to prevent homelessness, but eventually rents and mortgages will need to be paid.

The early impact of the pandemic in the Pioneer Valley, as elsewhere, has magnified the trends of inequality that already existed. Minorities, women, and low-wage workers have been most affected and have exhibited a slower economic recovery. Large cities have been hardest hit, but the shrinking of higher education during the pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on Amherst. 

With a large number of people working at home, people have made 30 percent fewer trips to their offices and 41 percent fewer visits to retail establishments and restaurants. PVTA ridership was down 68 percent from 2019. Air travel from Bradley International Airport was down 51 percent in July, compared to 2019.

Unemployment in Massachusetts peaked at 17 percent. As of November 2020 it was 5.1 percent. Much of this decrease is not due to an increase in jobs, but to a shrinking of the labor force by 250,000 since last February.

Some of the economic effects of COVID have been mitigated by the federal Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP), which resulted in 101,000 jobs saved in Western Massachusetts and 8,673 loans, totaling $1 billion, to businesses. Still, revenues have decreased 22 percent. And since State revenues are also down, this shortfall will be passed on to cities and towns if there is insufficient federal help.

There will be long-term changes due to the pandemic as well. Remote work is here to stay. Hall was not sure if people will move out of cities to small towns, but regardless, he felt we need to be mindful that we don’t perpetuate and amplify the existing inequalities of society. We need to close the digital divide, expanding broadband to rural and urban areas. We need more data on the race and ethnicity of business owners, more data on food insecurity, and, with the ending of the eviction moratorium, more tracking on home loss and the ending of unemployment insurance. Of course, the “elephant in the room” for the Pioneer Valley is the question of how much higher education will recover.

As an example of how the economy could be made more equitable, Hall cited expanding daycare slots and making childcare services more flexible. Also, he endorsed increasing the supply of affordable housing and associated wraparound services, such as mental health services, tutoring, and career mentoring.

With respect to a potential influx of people from cities, Hall said that building new subdivisions and expanding the number of families with children may cost the town more in terms of constructing and maintaining new roads and educating more children, but if more housing were created by infill, it may be advantageous to the economy. 

The big variable for Amherst is how many students will come back to Amherst next fall. We need to support local businesses until that time. Hall may be contacted at dhall@pvpc.org

Delay On Further Work On 40R Zoning
The Planning Board proposed delaying consideration of 40R overlay zoning because all of the members agreed that the bylaw proposed by the consultants needs work before it can be applied to Amherst. To that end, the following motion was proposed:

The current proposal for locating the 40R Overlay District in the downtown has provided a valuable perspective on development options that may alleviate overall housing demand, provide much needed affordable housing, and unlock development potential in portions of the downtown. The proposal also offers valuable design guidelines that may be incorporated into future zoning by-laws, which are currently being rewritten. In addition, the Planning Board also envisions the merit in reviewing 40R districts in other portions of town, such as the village centers that the 40R consultants reviewed.

Unfortunately, the timing of the proposal conflicts with other zoning priorities that the town is currently pursuing. Therefore, I move that the Planning Board supports the idea of 40R Smart Growth in concept, but the current proposal needs further exploration and refinement subsequent to the current zoning changes that are being developed. The Planning Board recommends that the Chapter 40R Smart Growth proposal be set aside for now, while the town revises its Zoning Bylaw, and that the Chapter 40R concept be resurrected at an appropriate time in the future.

This motion passed 6-0-0 (Johanna Neumann had left the meeting prior to the vote).

Massachusetts State House Bill 5250
Amherst resident Hilda Greenbaum recently pointed out that the Governor signed House Bill 5250 on January 14. The bill awards Amherst $250,000 for affordable housing and $240,000 to work on net-zero energy housing. The Business Improvement District will receive $50,000. Included in the 100-page bill are changes that make it easier for towns to pass some zoning amendments that create new housing by requiring a simple majority vote of the Town Council  instead of a two-thirds majority. The Planning Board will examine the portions of the bill dealing with zoning for discussion at a future meeting.

The rest of this meeting was spent reviewing the work of the Zoning Subcommittee at its meetings on January 12 and 19. That discussion may be read elsewhere in the Indy.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30.