Historical Commission Can’t Muster a Quorum: Only Two Members Remain

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst Historical Commission, June 23, 2025

By Hilda Greenbaum

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

The two remaining members of the Historical Commission, Chair Robin Fordham and Hetty Startup, met on June 23 with staff liaison Walker Powell. The agenda included consideration of applications for the historic barn preservation program, comments from Eversource regarding historic or archeological resources in the right of way of their power lines, and a public hearing on a demolition delay for 37/41 North Pleasant Street. The two commissioners present from the seven-member commission did not constitute a quorum, so no business could happen.

In the public comment period, a representative of the Public Archeology Laboratory asked whether the members present had any comments on the report about the Eversource right of way issue that they had submitted for review. According to that report only a very small section of the 27-mile Eversource right of way is in Amherst, and it has no known artifacts that would be impacted by the maintenance of the power lines’ right of way.

With regard to the North Pleasant Street property, a public hearing had been held by the Historical Commission in March, 2021 on Barry Roberts’ plans to demolish the property, which is currently home to McMurphy’s Uptown Tavern and the Amherst Typewriter Shop. The rear portion of the building housed the Amherst Boys and Girls Club until 2020. The commissioners present determined that the Commission had approved demolition in 2021, and nothing has been found to change its historical significance since then.

At the 2021 hearing, the commission heard research on the history of the building done by former Planning Director Jonathan Tucker and former planner Ben Breger.  It first appears on maps in 1888 and was home to numerous small businesses, such as a bakery, a drapery shop, and a restaurant, none of historical significance. At the time of the hearing, Roberts’ attorney Tom Reidy of Bacon, Wilson LLC said that the building was “not in good shape.” He said that the south wall was bowed out, causing the roof to sag, and that the foundation was a “hodgepodge” of different materials. The current structure has undergone numerous modifications including vinyl siding and modern style windows. The building is not in the Central Historic District, which ends at the building housing Antonio’s Pizzeria next door. 

According to the town’s Historic Preservation bylaw, a permit for demolition expires after one year. The bylaw states that if demolition has not commenced by one year after the permit is issued, the Historic Commission must hold a new hearing. However, staff liaison Walker Powell said in an email to the Indy, “If there is no quorum available, and a hearing cannot be held before the deadline, an application can be “constructively granted”, which means that it is granted without a hearing. In this case, the chair and I felt that this was not a problem since the project has been previously reviewed.”.Roberts’ application states that he is planning to construct a two-story mixed-use building on the site. 

Due to the pending vacation of the chair and lack of appointment of new members, the commission will not meet again until August at the earliest. There are no known pending projects needing approval.