Letter: Planning Board Chair Has a Conflict of Interest
Photo: Blue Diamond Gallery. Creative commons
When asked by myself at a public forum on October 29, to tell the assembled North Amherst neighbors how many townhouse housing units were built to replace the 240 housing units of the former North Village Apartments, the chair of the Amherst Planning Board, Doug Marshall, who is also the second in command of UMass Amherst’s Planning Department, refused to answer, claiming he puts aside any UMass information once he leaves work.
The answer to my question is that UMass replaced the late North Villages 240 housing units with 150 townhouse units.
The obvious reason Mr. Marshall cutely refused to answer my question is that it would have made UMass look bad to have replaced North Village’s 240 units with only150 housing units while its Assistant Planning Director, the chair of the Amherst Planning Board, was before North Amherst residents advocating the demolition of affordable student and family housing in Puffton Village, TownHouse, and Brandywine and replacement of those over 500 relatively affordable housing units with 3-to-6 story, luxury-priced, smaller, urban-style student housing buildings.
Conflict-of-interests anyone?
Vincent O’Connor
Vincent O’Conner is a resident of Amherst’s District 1 and a candidate for Town Council.
This letter illustrates why Vince O’Connor should be elected as a member of the Amherst Town Council. Mr. Marshall’s evasion of Vince’s question illustrates why he should not be a member of the Amherst Planning Board. He is in effect a lobbyist for the University, not the impartial decision maker required by the Massachusetts State Constitution.
Agreed . Elect Vince O’ Connor !
If there is a conflict of interest that problem may have been solved by Town Council voting to say there is no conflict. That should be a public record.
I should hasten to add that I do not think Council should allow this conflict of interest. Having an employee of the the 800 pound gorilla in our local economy running our Planning Board is ill advised, to put it mildly.
The UMass Amherst 2023-2030 Strategic Plan is soon to be released. Is the construction of on campus dormitories included in the plan? Did the Amherst Planning Board review the plan or have any input?
Mr. Marshall should do the right thing, and recuse himself from discussions on the Zoning Amendments .
Additionally ,the Town Council should insist on clarification of this issue, before the process starts
A conflict of interest can be real , or perceived .
I just want to see a level playing field on this matter .
If we were to exclude everyone who works at UMass, who would sit on town boards/committees? Don’t we also want people who are professionally qualified to be sitting in those roles? ALL residents of Amherst, regardless of their UMass status, are as affected by the proliferation of off-campus housing and the loss of housing stock as every other town member. We all want housing that the average family and students can afford- neither of which are currently available.