Public Comment: Amherst Historic Commission Has the Opportunity, and Obligation, to Correct Its Mistake

The following public comment was presented at a set of public hearings conducted by the Amherst Historical Commission on August 22, 2024

When the Amherst Historic Commission (AHC) last discussed and voted on this issue in September and October of 2023, it did so without the knowledge of the findings of the Massachusetts Historic Commission that the proposed Jones building project violated five of the Secretary of Interior’s 10 Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic Properties and would therefore not receive the nearly $2 million in historic tax credits that had been sought. It was not only the AHC that was not informed of this formal rejection in December 2023 and again in April 2024. This information was not made available to the Building Committee, the Town Council, the Finance Committee, the Trustees, or the public. 

While the AHC is not itself responsible for information that should have been shared with them, it does bear responsibility for knowing what those Standards are and applying them to all projects that come before it. In this case, the violations of the standards are crystal clear. 

#2 Retain and preserve the historic character of a property. Avoid removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces and spatial relationships that characterize a property.

VIOLATED by demolition of portions of the 1928 building, removal of the Buckingham slate roof, removal of two sets of historic stairs as well as other interior portions of the 1928 building

#5 Preserve the distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property.

VIOLATED by he removal of two sets of historic stairs and other interior portions of the 1928 building

#6 Repair rather than replace deteriorated historic features or replace with the same materials when necessary.

VIOLATED by replacement of the Buckingham slate roof with either synthetic slate or asphalt roofing

#9 Do not allow new additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction to destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. Ensure that any new work will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.

VIOLATED by demolition of portions of the 1928 building and by the proposed new addition

#10 Only allow new additions and adjacent or related new construction that maintain essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment. 

VIOLATED by the proposed new addition

The demolition of large portions of the 1928 building, the removal of the Buckingham slate roof, the massing of the new addition relative to the historic building were all known last fall and are incontrovertibly forbidden. The AHC had no basis last fall  to find that the plan complied with these Standards, and it has no basis to find that now when even worse violations are proposed, like using asphalt shingles.

Were it not for the single bid coming in $7 million over budget this spring, this grievous error would have gone uncorrected. The proposed plan, known to violate these standards for years, should never have gotten as far as it has but that is not your problem to solve. You have a second chance tonight to do your duty, which is to historic preservation: deny permission for demolition and find that the plan does not meet the required standards of rehabilitation.

Maria Kopicki is a resident of Amherst’s District 5