Neumann Narrowly Retains Seat On Planning Board

Report On The Meeting Of The Amherst Town Council, June 26 ,2023, Part 2

This meeting was recorded and can be viewed here. 

Present
Lynn Griesemer (President, District 2), Cathy Schoen (District 1), Pat DeAngelis (District 2), Dorothy Pam and Jennifer Taub (District 3), Pam Rooney and Anika Lopes (District 4), Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5), Mandi Jo Hanneke, Andy Steinberg, and Ellisha Walker (at large)

Absent: Michele Miller (District 1) and Shalini Bahl-Milne (District 5). Schoen left at 10:30 p.m. 

Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager) and Athena O’Keeffe (Clerk of the Council)

DeAngelis Changes Position On Planning Board Appointments
The council voted 7-3 to reappoint Johanna Neumann to a second three-year term on the Planning Board. Pam, Rooney, and Taub voted no. According to the charter, an appointment requires a majority of the council as a whole, not of those present, or a minimum of seven votes.

When the Community Resources Committee (CRC) held interviews for the three positions opening up on the Planning Board as of July 1, Pat DeAngelis (District 2) was adamantly opposed to reappointing Neumann for a second term , citing Neumann’s opposition to the temporary moratorium on large solar installations proposed by DeAngelis and fellow District 2 councilor and Council President Lynn Griesemer. DeAngelis said that Neumann mischaracterized the proposed moratorium as being against solar energy, whereas the stated purpose of the moratorium was to enact a temporary pause in large-scale solar constructing until a solar siting bylaw could be adopted. 

CRC members Jennifer Taub (District 3) and Pam Rooney (District 4) voted against Neumann, citing her lack of attendance and attention to the Planning Board and that she usually voted on proposals uncritically. They also mentioned her uncritical acceptance of DeAngelis and Mandi Jo Hanneke’s (at large) controversial zoning changes on multifamily housing when they were first presented on February 1. (The Planning Board subsequently decided unanimously, including Neumann, not to recommend the zoning proposal). Taub also objected to Neumann references to Taub’s neighborhood as “transitional” and “averse to change”, which she found demeaning and untrue. 

At the council meeting, DeAngelis reversed her objections, saying Neumann has worked diligently on the board and that she now supports her reappointment. Andy Steinberg (at large), ignoring the fact that the council did not reappoint Michael Birtwistle to the Planning Board in 2020 even though he worked diligently and his participation was considered invaluable by many on the council, said he was “very upset by the recommendation of the committee because we have a member who’s worked diligently, has an exceptional understanding of energy and the whole subject of environmental regulation.”

Dorothy Pam (District 3) said that although she admires Neumann’s columns on energy conservation in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Neumann was frequently absent from Planning Board meetings and rarely spoke up about requiring any improved energy efficiency in proposed buildings. “If you want to be on a board, and particularly a board as crucial as the Planning Board, you have to really participate and do the work.” Neumann missed almost one out of three Planning Board meetings last year.

Hanneke defended Neumann’’s lack of participation,saying, “Just because someone doesn’t speak very often at a meeting doesn’t mean that they haven’t critically thought about those materials.” Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5) added, “I plan to enthusiastically support Johanna’s appointment, especially because of her expertise. Those with climate action knowledge are needed on all of our committees.” In addition, she urged “all of us to check how we are speaking publicly about our neighbors and do it with kindness and empathy,” pointing out  that “being loud or talkative and being unprepared are two very different things.”

Hanneke Raises Objections To Mager And Sloviter Appointments
Subsequent to the June 12 CRC interviews for the Planning Board and the June 15 interviews for the Zoning Board of Appeals, the council received a petition signed by over 260 residents objecting to the inordinate amount of time town committees and staff have spent on evaluating Hanneke and DeAngelis’ zoning proposals. The proposed zoning changes have undergone multiple changes since first presented, and Hanneke objected that two nominees, Planning Board applicant Jesse Mager and Zoning Board of Appeals applicant David Sloviter both signed the petition to reject her proposal. The petition did not include the most recent details on abutter notification. Thus, she said, the nominees  had failed to do due diligence, and she could not support Mager’s candidacy. She did, however, vote for Sloviter’s reappointment as an associate member of the ZBA.

Steinberg joined Hanneke in opposing Mager’s appointment, but the vote was 8-2 in favor of it. Retired electrician Fred Hartwell was unanimously (with three absent) approved for the Planning Board.

Associate Members OF ZBA Not Appointed To Full Terms
Two of the one-year associates on the ZBA, Sarah Marshall and David Sloviter, applied to be full members. Full members usually serve as associates before being appointed to three-year terms. However, the CRC deemed both of them to be divisive and instead appointed three new applicants to the full terms. Marshall and Sloviter will remain as associate members. Also appointed as an associate member was Hilda Greenbaum, who has served on the ZBA for several years previously. Attorney Evrald Henry and Amherst College student Phillip White were appointed as full members with three-year terms, despite having no previous experience with Amherst zoning. White did work on land use issues in North Carolina, where he previously resided. 

The council approved the CRC recommendations by votes of 10-0, although Rooney and Taub went on record saying that Sloviter and Marshall should have been appointed for full terms because they had experience and had served well during the previous year. Hanneke pointed out that if they had been selected for full terms, the entire ZBA would reside in the new District 4. All of the candidates were amenable to taking either full or associate positions.