Town Must Extend Review Period to 30 Days for Environmental Assessment of Jones Library Expansion

The following letter was sent to Robert Peirent, Special Projects Coordinator for the Town of Amherst, on March 27, 2025.

I have learned that the town has released its Environmental Assessment and FONSI statement and accompanying documentation regarding the Jones Library building project. I understand that the town has announced that there will be a response period of 15 days, until April 12, 2025.

We request that the Town extend the response period to 30 days, pursuant to 24 CFR 58.46, which provides that a 30-day response period be provided when there exists “considerable interest or controversy concerning the project.” 

As you know, the Jones Library demolition/expansion project has been highly controversial from the beginning. There have been several close votes when the project narrowly escaped termination; it was ranked as the lowest priority of the Town’s proposed major capital projects during public listening sessions; it was the subject of a legal challenge when hundreds of residents’ signatures were unreasonably disallowed on a petition challenging the project. The very large increase in cost (from $35 million to $46 million) along with growing concern over the negative impacts on sustainability and historic preservation led more than 1,100 residents to sign a petition last summer calling for the project to be stopped in favor of a more modest approach. Notably, a large proportion of those signatories were people who had previously supported the project but who no longer do. 

Under the circumstances, there can be no denying that there is “considerable interest or controversy concerning the project.” Accordingly, there needs to be a 30-day response period so that the people of Amherst can review the EA and respond to it.

Mickey Rathbun

Mickey Rathbun is a resident of Amherst