Increased Housing Density in the Cards for North Amherst

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst Planning Board, April 2, 2025

The meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Doug Marshall (Chair), Bruce Coldham, Jesse Mager, Johanna Neumann, and Karin Winter. Absent: Lawrence Kluttz and Fred Hartwell

Staff: Nate Malloy (Senior Planner) and Pam Field-Sadler (Assistant)

More Density Encouraged for Existing Apartment Complexes
The Planning Board continued its discussion of March 5, which explored creating an overlay district between North Pleasant Street and Route 116, south of Meadow Street to Presidential Apartments. This area contains several large apartment complexes created in the 1960s and ’70s that are primarily student housing for UMass. Most of the buildings are two-stories and there is “generous parking” for residents. The Planning Board suggested increasing the number of units available by allowing three- to six-story buildings and reducing the total amount of required parking.

The idea of a multi-family overlay district was initially proposed in 2013, but did not advance beyond the Zoning Subcommittee. Senior Planner Nate Malloy reintroduced the idea to the Planning Board in March, recommending that it be limited to North Amherst for now, although it could be expanded to other areas of town later. He recommended that any expansion under the overlay bylaw have 15% affordable units instead of the 12% mandated by the Inclusionary Zoning bylaw (Article 15, amended in 2021). Rather than have the affordable units scattered throughout the complex as specified in the town’s bylaw, he suggested that they should be clustered together in a separate area in the complex, away from the buildings largely occupied  by students.

The Planning Board expressed enthusiasm for the concept of the overlay district. Jesse Mager suggested limiting the height and scale of the buildings closest to North Pleasant Street to maintain the character of the street. Larger and higher buildings could be built farther to the west. Bruce Coldham and Karin Winter agreed. Planning Board Chair Doug Marshall felt that the overlay could serve as a template that could be applied elsewhere in town, such as East Amherst Center. 

Only Johanna Neumann voiced some hesitation. She said, “In general I agree. I’ve been pretty supportive of the idea of adding density to this. The one thing that gives me a little bit of pause is that we end up leapfrogging instead of concentrating density. When you’re at the rotary on the north end of the UMass campus, there are buildings that are four or five stories tall, and then on the north side of the rotary you end up with very small single-family homes on individual lots. And if we move forward with this, basically what we end up with is density on the college campus, then a mile and a half of relatively low density, then a bunch more density. Maybe that’s the best we can do. This is the path of least resistance, but if I were starting from scratch, I would be inclined to concentrate the density [closer to the university].”

Other board members pointed out that the intervening neighborhood just north of campus is a well-established neighborhood, and even Neumann admitted that it is a “nice little neighborhood.” Winter and Coldham suggested a dedicated bicycle and pedestrian path to campus from the apartment complexes and noted that there is good bus service in the area. 

In public comment, Janet Keller expressed concerns about the traffic impact of adding as many as 3,000 more units to North Amherst, an already congested area. However, Marshall pointed out that much of the traffic is probably university students driving through North Amherst from more distant lodging, and that creating more housing near campus may actually decrease the amount of traffic.

As next steps, the board would like to get feedback about the proposal from the managers of some of the large apartment complexes and from the Amherst Police Department about behavioral  problems. “Do they think we’re nuts to propose to double or triple the number of people in this area from a public safety point of view?” Marshall asked.

Malloy will begin drafting a sample overlay proposal for the board to discuss at future meetings.

Board Awaits Feedback from the State Attorney General on Accessory Dwelling Bylaw Revision
Malloy has submitted Amherst’s draft Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Bylaw to the state Attorney General for feedback as to its legality under the new state housing law, but the town has not heard back. The town counsel, K-P Law, did give an opinion that Amherst could not limit ADUs to lots with single-family homes; could not define “student home” in order to restrict rentals or purchases under the ADU bylaw; and could not apply design standards not required for single-family homes. . 

Malloy wondered whether K-P Law was being too conservative in its criticisms of the draft bylaw in order to protect the town. He suggested that the Planning Board defer further discussion of the bylaw until the Attorney General has commented on it.

Lawrence Kluttz Has Resigned from the Planning Board
Malloy announced that Lawrence Kluttz, who was recently appointed to the Planning Board, has decided to step down from it. As a result,  there will be three vacancies on the board as of June 30. Kluttz was appointed to the board by the Town Council last August, after a controversial discussion on July 15 , when George Ryan was successful in his effort to appoint him instead of Melissa Farris, the candidate who had been recommended by the Community Resources Committee (CRC), because he felt Farris had expressed some hostility toward UMass in past public comments. Although the July vote to replace Farris with Kluttz had failed ( 4-5-3), the  vote to appoint her  had also failed (5-6-1) at the same meeting. The council then voted 8-4-1 to approve Kluttz’s appointment to the Planning Board on August 19. 

In his application to the board, Kluttz, who moved to Amherst from Durham, North Carolina two years ago,  said his family chose to move to Amherst because of its character and that he looked forward to contributing to the town. He said that he valued input from varied sources, but added that it was important to base decisions on sound policy even if the decisions were not popular. He spoke of maintaining a balance between encouraging development and keeping the character of the town.

In addition to Kluttz, the terms of Coldham and Winter expire in 2025. CRC Chair Pam Rooney said that they could apply again for places on the board should they want to continue, although preference may be given to new applicants. Those Interested in serving on the Planning Board should fill out an online Community Activity Form (CAF) here. 

Storage Shed Approved for Plum Brook Recreation Area
The Planning Board unanimously approved Amherst Youth Soccer Association’s (AYSA) request to place a 10- by 16-foot prefabricated storage shed at the Plum Brook Recreation Area. AYSA President Megan Rhodes said that the shed would be used to store the club’s equipment, instead of at individual people’s homes, so that it does not have to be  brought to the recreation area for every game and practice. She said a shed would make it much easier for volunteers in the all-volunteer organization. The shed had the support of Amherst Recreation and the DPW, and received a 4-0 vote from the Design Review Board, although the members suggested that the group consider a simple shed roof rather than the mansard roof In the diagram and using the same pewter color as the roof for the siding and trim.

The shed will sit on a gravel pad at the west side of the site. There will be an accessible gravel path leading from the parking lot to the shed. Rhodes said it would not be visible from the street entrance. There will be no lighting, electricity, or plumbing in the shed. Coldham suggested that the roof be made out of translucent material to allow natural light into the shed. Rhodes said that the shed would only be used briefly and always in the daytime, and pointed out that cost is a big consideration for the organization but she will look into other designs.

The Planning Board next meets on April 16.