Historical Commission Holds Six Demolition Delay Hearings

Report On The Meeting Of The Amherst Historical Commission, May 18, 2022

The meeting was held on Zoom, was called to order at 6:38 p.m., and was recorded.

Present
Members: Jane Wald (chair), Jan Marquardt (arrived at about 7:20), Becky Lockwood, Pat Auth, Robin Fordham, Hetty Startup

Staff:  Ben Breger (staff liaison)

Katherine Davis has resigned from the commission due to her move from Amherst.

It was a long and busy meeting of the Historical Commission with six demolition delay hearings scheduled. Five College Credit Union asked to demolish the existing Zbylut Motors building and a circa 1900 farmhouse, both at 406 Northampton Road, but this hearing was continued to June 22, 2022 because this project was being considered  by the Planning Board at the same time. (Add Link To PB report)

Next, James David requested permission to demolish an 1860 single-family farmhouse at 266 Stanley Street and a 1944 two-family Cape house at 244 Stanley Street. No information was found in Special Collections at the Jones Library about the house or the owner listed on the first deed, Jeremiah Hart. Though this property abuts the former fairgrounds and racetrack (now Amherst Nurseries), no association between the house and the fairgrounds or race track could be found. The house appears to be in good condition but has a musty dirt cellar, replacement vinyl windows, an older metal leaky roof, rooms too small under current codes, and suffers much deferred maintenance from having been a student rental house for the last fifty years.

Demolition of the two-family Cape was approved unanimously with no discussion. Startup stated that the little 1860 house, in a picturesque setting almost at the corner of Route 9, was part of a small group of houses in a walkable neighborhood in 1860 when the fairgrounds was built. Though not having a distinguished character, it is “a piece of the story of this neighborhood,”  Startup said. “This is exactly the kind of house she would like to have for her own”, she said. She also said she feels  that it has  “historical significance” — one criterion for demolition delay — as did two other members, while two other members voted that it had no historical significance and whatever architectural integrity it may have had is gone. Nothing of the original interior remains. Because it met none of the other criteria for delaying demolition, the motion passed with the requirement that the house be documented for the Massachusetts Cultural Information System ( MACRIS) for Massachusetts historical resources. The owner stated they will replace the two houses with “something more environmentally friendly.”

The Commission unanimously approved the demolition of the garage and porch of 164 Sunset Avenue so that it can be moved to Hadley and noted  that a nearby lot was found on Fearing Street for the historic house at 174 Sunset Avenue. They said,  “Due diligence has been done — a good conclusion to benefit a variety of neighborhoods.” Then they enthusiastically supported moving the Kinsey Garden behind the Jones Library to the Kestrel Trust headquarters at the former Alice and Sy Epstein house on Bay Road so that most of the plants can be preserved.

Shannon Walsh, Historic Preservation Planner with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, has begun updating the town’s  Preservation Plan. She has toured the town and will start to compare the existing plan with what other towns have done. Information on Black, Indigenous and Irish populations in Amherst will be integrated into the plan, and it will include a goal to find strategies for its implementation. Walsh will attend  the Commission’s next meeting, on June 22, to continue discussing the public benefits of historic preservation and how to educate the public about the value of maintaining historic buildings..

Three vacancies on the Historic Commission need to be filled between July 1 of this year and January 30, 2023, and residents are urged to apply.