Downtown Design Standards, East Amherst Study, and Professional Research Park Zones will Be Top Priorities for Planning Department in 2026

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst Planning Board, January 21, 2026

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Doug Marshall (Chair), Bruce Coldham, Fred Hartwell, Angus McLeod, Jesse Mager, Jerah Smith, and Johanna Neumann.

Staff: Nate Malloy (Assistant Director of Planning and Economic Development) and Pam Field Sadler (Assistant).

Jeff Bagg, who began work as Planning and Economic Development Director on December 1, introduced himself to the Planning Board and outlined some of his zoning priorities and the goals set by the Town Manager.

Bagg previously worked as a senior planner in Amherst from 2008-2016, working primarily with the Zoning Board of Appeals. Then, he spent two years working for the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, serving as a shared town planner for the towns of Rutland and Barre. After that, he took a job as a city planner in his hometown of Easthampton, expanding the Planning Department over the six years he was there and eventually becoming Planning Director. In Easthampton, he shepherded a number of projects, including the expansion of an existing 40R (smart growth) district and working with the city council and mayor.

He left Easthampton two years ago to work for a consulting firm, the BSC Group, out of Worcester. All of the group’s clients were municipalities, and Bagg helped several develop master plans. He said that he is happy to be back in Amherst after almost 10 years. With Bagg’s hiring, Senior Planner Nate Malloy was promoted to Assistant Director of Planning and Economic Development, and he will handle the day-to-day workings of the department.

Priorities for the Planning Department in 2026
In the past two months, Bagg has reviewed the Town Manager’s goals approved by the Town Council, which contain six primary goals with action items for each. Also, the Planning Department developed a memo outlining possible zoning changes for the coming year. 

Bagg is examining projects underway in the Planning Department to see how they align with those goals. He stated that he plans to prioritize three areas first: evaluating and adopting the downtown design standards expected to be made public next month, completing the East Amherst study and possible creation of a 40R district, since there is a current grant for that work, and determining the future of the Professional Research Park (PRP) zones by possibly permitting housing to be built there. 

One of Bagg’s first efforts will be to update the town’s economic data. He said there are some data from the previous Economic Development Director, but those date from before the pandemic and are likely no longer relevant. He said that he wants to bring in a consultant on capital planning to clarify, “What is the economic market? Where are people leaving Amherst to spend their money? There’s a whole slew of baseline information that we can’t really do much with without knowing the new data.” 

Over the longer term, he plans to look at the village centers and downtown and to get input from residents to develop a comprehensive economic plan. What kind of businesses can the town support? He noted that housing is economic development and that adequate housing in town is necessary for businesses to thrive. 

Planning Board members Jesse Mager and Bruce Coldham noted that the Planning Department’s memo on priorities did not mention student housing. Mager said, “From my perspective, you cannot address [economic well-being and attainable housing in Amherst] without addressing student housing in some way. In order to achieve housing for year-round residents, we have to figure out how to address the student housing ratio issues that we have in our town,” Coldham added, “We haven’t been able to find another town in the country that has a higher impact ratio [of college students to permanent residents] than Amherst.”

Bagg admitted the issue was complicated, but he is hopeful that the downtown design standards and the East Amherst study will address the types and sizes of buildings that will influence who will reside in them. He noted that the North Amherst overlay proposal was well-intentioned, but owners of those established apartment complexes were unlikely to invest in rebuilding them as more dense developments when they are profitable now; many are mortgage-free. He said there are property owners in East Amherst eager to build more housing, and that the Planning Board can play a key role in enabling these projects. He also thought that more public-private partnerships with UMass may help deal with the need for student housing.

Board member Jerah Smith stated, “I think what people are looking for in Amherst is more visible leadership on what the town and the university are thinking about related to housing. The things that I think about the most are the access to starter homes, a lack of senior home opportunities, a lack of diversity in rental choices, and the relationship with UMass.”

Planning Board Chair Doug Marshall stated that much of the concern about student housing stems from poor upkeep of rental housing, resident disruptive behavior, and absentee landlords, but these cannot be addressed by zoning. He suggested that town noise and parking bylaws, as well as the rental registration process, might be a better way to regulate student behavior. 

Coldham suggested that the Planning Board communicate regularly with local developers to determine what kinds of projects they are considering. However, Marshall cautioned that this would further the often-heard view that the board is in the developers’ pocket. 

New Ideas for Zoning Changes Introduced
Coldham introduced a proposal to expand Article 4.3 of the Zoning Bylaw to allow smaller lots of 5 to 10,000 sq. ft. in cluster subdivisions to permit the construction of starter homes. There is a ballot measure in the Massachusetts legislature to allow these denser developments that have been built in other parts of the country. Coldham suggested creating overlay districts to permit these smaller lots. 

Marshall wondered whether such a measure would apply only to undeveloped land or if he could tear down his house and build four smaller houses on his half-acre lot. The town’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Bylaw already allows up to two ADUs on a property.

Angus McLeod suggested combining the Professional Research Park (PRP) and Office Park (OP) zones and allowing some housing to be built in them. There are three PRP zones in town, one near North Square, one on Old Belchertown Road, and one on Route 9 at the eastern end of town. The only OP zone is on University Drive. 

Board members reacted favorably to the idea of this rezoning. Johanna Neumann recalled “doing a site visit to one of the PRP sites in East Amherst, and the owner talked about how he felt like his hands were tied to provide the thing that there’s demand for. And the thing that he can offer, there’s not a lot of demand for.”

The Planning Board decided to develop a list of priorities for the coming year. There was no agreement on whether the board should attempt to deal with the pressures that the demand for student housing places on the town.