Planning Board Sees University Drive as Prime Area to Add Housing

Repoirt on the Special Meeting of the Amherst Planning Board, September 27, 2023

This meeting was held in person and was recorded. It can be viewed here.

Present
Doug Marshall (Chair), Fred Hartwell, Jesse Mager, Janet McGowan, and Johanna Neumann. Karin Winter participated remotely. Absent: Bruce Coldham

Staff: Chris Brestrup (Planning Director), Nate Malloy (Senior Planner), Dave Ziomek (Assistant Town Manager), and Pam Field Sadler (Assistant)

This was the third in-person special meeting of the Planning Board scheduled to discuss “Planning for Housing Growth.” The other two meetings were in March and August . In response to suggestions raised at the August meeting, the Planning Department concentrated on how increased housing could be permitted, either through rezoning or overlay zoning, in East Amherst Center, North Pleasant Street from downtown to UMass, and on University Drive. Overlay maps were developed for each area.

However, Planning Board member Jesse Mager pointed out that adding housing to these areas was a long-term solution, and regulations were needed now to preserve the character of neighborhoods that are now being overrun by student housing. Janet McGowan agreed that the town needs to help the RG (General Residence) zone maintain its neighborhood vitality. She suggested regulations limiting student rentals in an area, but first the board needs accurate data on which parcels are rented, which are owner-occupied, and which are rented to students. Town Councilor Pam Rooney (District 4) said that the Community Resources Committee of the Town Council requested that information while working on the rental registration bylaw, but only received information on those properties that applied for rental permits. Town Planner Chris Brestrup said that compiling complete and accurate information would involve going through property cards one-by-one, a time-consuming process. She noted that the Planning Department is still down one member, and would have a difficult time doing this.

Planning Board member Karin Winter asked why the Olympia Drive area was not included as a possible location for more housing. Planner Nate Malloy replied that, after Archipelago purchased two parcels to build private dormitories, the remaining land in that area is owned by UMass, and hence the town has no jurisdiction over it.

Although both the University Drive and North Pleasant Street areas abut the university, McGowan felt that development along University Drive would be less controversial because it is not in a neighborhood. Fred Hartwell noted that University Drive is one of the few areas in town that is focused on commercial properties.  Amherst has few areas of concentrated commercial properties of outside of the village centers and downtown. Malloy also said the Limited Business zoning of the area greatly limits the amount of housing that could be built there without rezoning. In addition, he said that the town intended University Drive to be thoroughfare with minimal curb cuts and cars entering at multiple points, but that could be rethought. He thought that it would be conceivable to create 1000 beds for students along the road, but Planning Board Chair Doug Marshall thought a mix of housing that would promote professionals and seniors also living there would also be desirable, especially with the nursing home and the Arbors assisted living facility on that block.

Brestrup and Malloy noted that zoning can dictate what type of building is permitted, but cannot prescribe what type of units are built. Malloy said that tweaking the Inclusionary Zoning Bylaw to require 20% of units to be affordable instead of 12%, and allow the maximum income for the affordable units to be 150% of Area Mean Income could encourage more families and professionals to occupy the new units. Also, encouraging diversity of unit size, instead of only studios and one-bedrooms might encourage small families to live there.

Johanna Neumann liked the idea of working on one area and taking it to completion, so as not to overwork the planning staff. The staff will explore options for adding more housing to University Drive and bring proposals to the next housing planning meeting on October 25.

In public comment, Lily Bruce, a UMass student who serves on the Student Government Association said students live off-campus because the university does not guarantee them housing on-campus past their first year. She said off-campus housing is much more expensive than being on campus. She worried that changing zoning so that students are not allowed to live on certain streets is going to make it harder for them to find places to live. The university tried to remedy the lack of on-campus housing with the construction of the 850-bed Fieldstone Building, a public private partnership, but because of rrecent demolitions, the net gain in on campus beds was only in the neighborhood of 350 beds.  And rooms in Fieldstone cost $1500 per month.

UMass Representatives to Attend October 25 Planning for Housing Meeting
Tony Maroulis, Executive Director of Community and Strategic Initiative, and Nancy Buffone, Associate Vice Chancellor of University Relations, will attend the October 25 in-person Planning Board special meeting to discuss UMass influence on the housing situation in Amherst. Some questions the board will pose to Maroulis and Buffone are:

• Who decides what university housing gets built and where?
• Should further development on Olympia Drive be part of the conversation?
• Does the university have any idea of how many students are housed in surrounding towns?
• Are there any projections about university enrollment over the next 5 to 10 years?
• Is UMass planning for any faculty housing or housing for staff, not just undergraduates?

Marshall pointed to a Planning Department study that showed that only 25% of UMass staff lived in Amherst and those were mostly the higher paid, tenured professors.

Marshall to Represent the Planning Board on CPAC
At the September 20 Planning Board meeting, Marshall was selected to represent the Planning Board on the Community Preservation Act (CPA) Committee. His appointment was forwarded to the Town Manager and will come before the Town Council in October. Applications for CPA grants are due on September 30 and will be evaluated during the fall.

The Planning Board will next meet for its regularly scheduled meeting on October 4.