Public Hearing On North Amherst Library

Planning Board Begins Discussion of Comprehensive Housing Plan
Report On The Meeting Of The Planning Board (3/17/21)

The meeting was held via Zoom. A recording can be viewed here. 
Participating: All Planning Board members. Staff: Christine Brestrup, Planning Director, Pam Field-Sadler, Administrative Assistant, Guilford Mooring, Superintendent of Public Works

North Amherst Library Renovation — First Public Hearing
Architects Michael Liu of Berkshire Design Group and Chris Farley of Kuhn, Riddle Architects presented plans to construct an addition to the north side of the North Amherst Library (see also here). The addition, which is funded by an anonymous donor, includes two accessible restrooms and a meeting room with a capacity of about 50 people. The project would also make the library accessible by adding a wheelchair lift from the addition to the existing library building and moving the main entrance to the addition. The plan adds 1,210 square feet to the existing 926-square-foot library.

The entrance to the parking lot would be from Sunderland Road. There is also a bus stop directly across Montague Road. Plans are to extend the sidewalks on both streets from the crosswalks to the entrance walkway. The parking lot would have ten spaces, including two handicap spaces. The zoning bylaw requires 25 spaces, but the applicant requests a waiver because of the convenient public transportation and the fact that many patrons are expected to arrive by foot or bicycle.

The Planning Board made a site visit this past week. Most of their comments concerned the site’s accessibility to pedestrians and the adequacy of the parking. The library is located on a peninsula of land bounded by Sunderland and Montague Roads. They worried about the safety of pedestrians crossing those roads to reach the library. 

To address these concerns, Guilford Mooring, Superintendent of Public Works, said that the Town plans to reconfigure the intersection in the next two to three years, and will probably connect the two roads north of the library through the site of a former gas station, so only one road (Montague Road) will pass the library. The area of Sunderland Road that currently runs between the library and the former North Amherst School could be the site of a plaza or an expanded parking lot. Until the roads are reconfigured, the pavement at the former gas station, which is owned by the Town, could be an informal parking lot. An area north of the library parking lot will be planted with grass for stormwater drainage. 

Liu said that enlarging the parking lot, enhancing the surrounding roads, and installing street lighting, sidewalks and crosswalks are outside the scope of the project and it would be up to the Town to improve the area for pedestrians, cars, and bicyclists.

Planning Board member Johanna Neumann suggested that a rain garden might make more sense for drainage than a mowed grass swale, but Mooring said that plans for that area are in flux until the town decides on how the streets will be reconfigured. To Neumann’s query about the energy efficiency of the project, the architects replied that because the project will cost less than $1 million, it would not trigger the town’s net zero bylaw; but it will nevertheless be built for high efficiency and will be net zero ready. The site is not conducive for solar panels, so any renewable energy would need to be provided off-site.

The design plans call for retaining the community-maintained plantings at the front of the existing library and several of the existing trees. Some new birch trees and foundation plants will be added. When  the intersection is redesigned, traffic noise, parking access, and pedestrian safety will improve, but the community and the donor are eager to see the project advance as soon as possible, not wait for the town to re-configure the roads.

In public comment, resident Ken Rosenthal worried that the flat roof in the connector between the new and old buildings would collect snow and eventually  leak. Mary Sayer worried about the safety of the crosswalks on the two busy streets. She also said that the existing bushes on the Sunderland Road side of the library are too high, and obstruct the view of traffic on Montague Road. Dorothy Pam felt 25 parking spaces should be the minimum required, given that the meeting room can hold 50 people. Cathy Schoen suggested using parking at the North Amherst School, and Hilda Greenbaum noted that in 2017, Town Meeting had approved a plan to use  the “cow pasture” north of the school for parking, but it was never implemented. Both of these options would still require that people cross Sunderland Road. Brestrup suggested that the Planning Board might put a condition on approval of the site plan review to revisit the parking situation once the new traffic design is developed.

The design has been reviewed by the Design Review Board, but their report was received too late to be incorporated into this discussion. The project also needs to be studied by the Historical Commission because of the alteration of the back wall of the existing library, and by the Conservation Commission for wetlands determination. These groups are set to review the project in the next few weeks. The Planning Board will continue the public hearing on April 7. If all goes smoothly with the permitting, it is hoped the new addition can be completed by next spring.

Eversource Withdraws Petition to Remove Trees for Reliability Upgrade
Eversource planned to remove seven white pine trees in the area of 165 Bay Road in order to make a reliability upgrade for service in South Amherst. However, because of the complexity of the tree trimming necessitated by the project, they decided to withdraw the petition and move the upgrade device to an existing pole to the east. Michael Rosenburg and Michael Kane of Eversource did note that a number of trees in that area are encroaching on the power lines and will need to be trimmed. They said the Eversource Head of Vegetation Management, Barry Croke, planned to look at trees throughout Town that could pose a danger to power lines. Amherst Tree Warden Alan Snowappreciated the cooperation between Eversource and the Town in keeping power lines safe.

Comprehensive Housing Policy
The Community Resources Committee (CRC) is scheduled to begin discussion on the proposed Comprehensive Housing Plan at their March 23 meeting. They requested comments from several Town boards and committees, including the Planning Board.

Jack Jemsek, Planning Board Chair, felt that the plan needed a definition section to specify what is meant by terms such as “affordability.” He also said that sustainability should be dealt with mainly through building codes and that it does not have to be a central part of the housing plan. He did question whether increasing housing supply really works to decrease prices.

Planning Board member Thom Long, who has been working with District 5 Councilor Shalini Bahl-Milne on a policy to increase opportunities for home ownership among BIPOC residents, said that the proposed plan does not include mechanisms to achieve some of its stated goals, which is problematic.

Janet McGowan noted the lack of emphasis on affordable housing. She reiterated that the Town has created over 800 new housing units in the past five years, but has fallen behind the 50 affordable units per year called for in the Housing Production Plan of 2013 . She pushed for expanding the inclusionary zoning bylaw to require all developments that create ten or more new units to provide ten percent affordable units, as was proposed by the Planning Department in the zoning presentation to the CRC on March 9. 

Brestrup did say that adding affordable housing takes a lot of staff time to manage and administer. It is better handled by organizations outside of Town Hall, such as Valley Community Development Corporation. And even so, the staff spent a huge amount of time on the Valley CDC supportive housing project at 132 Northampton Road. She said we need to be realistic about what the Town can afford in terms of money and staff. Meeting the affordable housing goals with Town resources alone could cost $12.5 million a year.

Doug Marshall suggested possibly creating a townwide 40R district with expedited permit approval, specified design guidelines, and a requirement of 20 percent affordable units. Maria Chao said that when housing supply is low, demand is high and costs increase. She felt some zoning changes could allow construction of more affordable housing. Of course, she acknowledged that the biggest driver of demand is UMass, and said the university should take some responsibility for easing the housing pressure on the Town. However, Long said that if all students were housed on campus, they probably wouldn’t spend as much money at local businesses downtown.

Pomeroy Village Intersection Design
The Town received a $1.5 MassWorks grant from the state to upgrade the intersection of Pomeroy and West Streets. The major decision is whether to construct a roundabout or an enhanced signaled intersection. There will be public forums on March 25 and March 27. Brestrup is also scheduled to present the options at the next District 5 meeting on April 1. The project does not require Planning Board approval, but input is welcomed.

The members of the Planning Board came to no consensus. Marshall thought roundabouts push buildings too far back from the road. He felt better delineation of spaces with granite curbs, green spaces between the curb and the sidewalks, and upgraded sidewalks would be a better use of the funds. Andrew MacDougall countered that he thinks of rotaries as “landmarks,” depending on how the interior spaces are treated. Neumann said that roundabouts are better for bicyclists, but McGowan said that they make it harder for pedestrians and are mainly designed to keep traffic moving, not to encourage people to patronize nearby businesses.

The Town Services and Outreach Committee (TSO) of the Council will deliberate on the issues sometime in April after the public hearings and after getting feedback from area businesses.

New Business
Brestrup expects to receive the full application for Archipelago’s proposed five-story mixed use building at 11-13 East Pleasant Street (the site of Cousin’s Market and the Pub) on March 19. It will first be presented to the Planning Board at the April 22 meeting.

Three Town Councilors have proposed a six-month moratorium on new residential construction downtown until new zoning guidelines can be developed and passed. This will be discussed at the Council meeting on Monday, March 22.

.The meeting adjourned at 10:20. The next meeting of the Planning Board is scheduled for April 7 at 6:30 p.m.