Library Project Preservation Agreement Needs More Work Advises MHC

Recommendations Include Salvaging and Reusing Historic Woodwork

The Massachusetts Historical Commission has responded to a Draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) from the Town of Amherst proposing how to “avoid, minimize or mitigate” adverse effects to the historic Jones Library resulting from the planned renovation-expansion  of the building. 

The Jones Library has been listed on the state and national registers of historic places since 1991. As such, pursuing agreement on how to resolve adverse effects is a step in the public Section 106 review process required by law to release federal grant funds. At the moment two federal grants worth $2.1 million have been provisionally awarded to the town pending successful completion of the Section 106 review.

The first cut at a Draft MOA which is posted on the Town’s Section 106 web site calls for

1. Documenting the interior and exterior of the Jones Library before demolition and construction
2. Installing an “interpretive plaque” commemorating the building’s history
3. Making three design concessions not captured in the construction documents on which Fontaine Brothers has submitted the lowest bid of $35,769,000. These are
   
   • Replace the roof with natural and not artificial slate
   • Drop plans to cut a book slot hole into the ashlar stone façade
   • Restore a previously removed pineapple ornament at the main entrance

MHC Executive Director and State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) Brona Simon sent the Town a response letter asking for several clarifying edits and recommending three additional stipulations.

1. The 20% of the original Philippine mahogany millwork being demolished “shall be carefully removed and saved in a secure location.” The salvaged wood “shall be reinstalled within the rehabilitated library and/or the new addition.”
   
2. The landscape plan which includes removal of the citizen-donated Kinsey Memorial Garden should be reviewed and approved by the Amherst Historical Commission and the Amherst Historical Society.
   
3. Replacement windows “must match the appearance, size, design, proportions and profiles of the existing historic windows and must have clear glazing.”

See related Letter: Jones Expansion Would Destroy Kinsey Garden

Modifications to existing stipulations in the MOA include confirming that free standing book drop boxes will substitute for the book drop hole in the façade, and scheduling a review by interested parties of the proposed interpretive plaque design, with a suggested review period of 30 days.

A revised Draft MOA has not yet been posted to the Town’s Section 106 website.