Letter: Are The Potential Harmful Consequences Of Rental Deregulation Really Unintended?
Parking in front of student rental property Photo: Art Keene
The following letter was sent to the Amherst Planning Board on January 31, 2023.
If you knew that the majority of our community doesn’t want what would happen if you remove the need for permitting on duplexes, triplexes, and townhouses, would you still so boldly make such hugely consequential changes in our zoning?
If you knew that the deregulation would open precarious floodgates: so many more neighborhoods becoming overwhelmed with student rental housing, so many more owner-occupied homes becoming student rentals, so many more UMass faculty and staff, families, retirees, professionals unable to attain housing in Amherst, would you still make that risky decision?
If you knew that there is no end of demand for housing in Amherst, and that our delicate and deteriorating roads and infrastructure, as well as our strained public safety staff, cannot afford the additional burden, would you be so confident of the road you’re taking us all down?
Please consider doing more of what Amherst is doing less and less: listen to the concerns and perspectives of the community where you live, and not pursue a path with so many unknowns and unintended consequences.
In conclusion: do not relax the requirements to get permits, have hearings, keep abutters informed.
Ira Bryck
Ira Bryck has lived in Amherst since 1993, ran the Family Business Center for 25 years, hosted the “Western Mass. Business Show” on WHMP for seven years, now coaches business leaders, and is a big fan of Amherst’s downtown.