Newcomers Appointed to Planning Board. Winter Denied Reappointment

Report on the Meeting of the Town Council, June 30, 2025, Part 1

This was a hybrid meeting that was recorded.

Present
Lynn Griesemer (President, District 2), Andy Steinberg, Mandi Jo Hanneke, Ellisha Walker (at large), Pat DeAngelis (District 2), George Ryan (District 3), Jennifer Taub and Pam Rooney (District 4), Bob Hegner and Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5). Absent: Cathy Schoen and Freke Ette (District 1), and Hala Lord (District 3).

Staff: Paul Bockelman (town manager) and Athena O’Keeffe (council clerk).

While the council quickly affirmed the recommendations of the Community Resources Committee (CRC) to appoint David Sloviter and David Ahlfeld to three-year terms as full members of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the discussion of appointments to the Planning Board was more contentious. After reaching consensus on how to fill two vacancies on the Board, the CRC was deadlocked on who should fill the third vacancy for the two years remaining in the three-year term of Lawrence Kluttz who had resigned. Because the committee was deadlocked, the choice between the reappointment of Karin Winter and new Amherst resident Angus McLeod was left to the full council. After a debate, the council voted 7-2-1 for McLeod. CRC members Jennifer Taub and Pam Rooney supported Winter. Ellisha Walker abstained.

There was no controversy over reappointing architect Bruce Coldham and Jerah Smith, who is relatively new to Amherst but holds a Master’s degree in Community Planning and works as a housing consultant. (Smith had previously withdrawn from his appointment to the Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust because he said he only has time to serve on one committee.) The vote for Coldham was unanimous. Taub and Rooney voted no on Smith’s nomination, and Walker abstained.  However, the choice between Winter and McLeod was more fraught.

George Ryan nominated McLeod for the two-year term. He said he was struck by McLeod’s answer to which of the nine suggestions made in the draft Housing Production Plan he would look to in order to increase housing in Amherst. Ryan thought that McLeod and Smith “offered very thoughtful and insightful comments. They had clearly read the document. and they picked out specific items and offered very specific comments.” He said, “I was disappointed in the response of Winter, who simply said that she agreed with Smith’s response.” 

Ryan went on to point out that four of the six members of the Planning Board reside in the general residence (R-G) district (as did Kluttz), which he said represents less than 4% of the residential land in Amherst. Taub quickly replied that although the R-G is small area-wise, it is the most densely populated district in town and has far more than 4% of the population, as opposed to Amherst Woods where both Smith and McLeod reside that has large lots with single-family homes. “None of the development happens in that area,” she said, adding that it is the R-G district that is facing the most pressure for development and from the incursion of off-campus student housing.

Rooney advocated for Winter, saying that she has served for three years on the Planning Board and as the Planning Board representative on the Design Review Board. She is also on the Housing subcommittee of the Planning Board. “She has worked hard and deserves to be reappointed,” she said. Taub noted Winter’s enthusiastic support for the recently approved University Drive overlay district and for a North Amherst overlay district to enable more housing to be constructed close to UMass.

Pat DeAngelis and Mandi Jo Hanneke voiced strong support for McLeod. DeAngelis stated that, even though McLeod has no specific planning board experience and works on school finance, he stated that he is familiar with the language of civil planning. Hanneke said, “Ms. Winter, in her responses, talked about needing to focus on development that will address the needs of year-round residents and families, in particular families of an age. We struggle to attract families that have kids in schools, families like my family, families like Jerah Smith’s family, and families like Angus McLeod’s family.”

Taub replied that Karin Winter’s daughter and son-in-law moved near her with their young child. She continued, “Frankly, I don’t think we have difficulty attracting families to Amherst that can afford to live in Amherst Woods, so I don’t know that that’s really the future of Amherst—the two people who were able to move into Amherst Woods in the last year. Mr. McLeod says he wants density. He wants more apartments. All that is happening in the area where Karin Winter lives. It is not and will not happen in the aquifer recharge district” where Smith and McLeod (and Hanneke) live.

CRC member Cathy Schoen who had also voiced support for Winter’s reappointment was absent from this meeting. 

ZBA Appointments Follow CRC Recommendations
In accordance with the recommendations of the CRC, the council unanimously reappointed David Sloviter to a three-year term as a full member of the ZBA and appointed David Ahlfeld, who had served as an associate member for the past year, to the other three-year term. Hilda Greenbaum was reappointed as a one-year associate, newcomer Steven KaCey was appointed as another associate member. As it has been for the past several years, there are no women among the full members of the ZBA. There will be only one woman on the Planning Board with all other full members of both boards being men.

Is Being a Landlord a Conflict of Interest on the ZBA or Planning Board?
Ana Devlin Gauthier asked whether being a landlord would present a conflict of interest on the Planning Board or ZBA. She said that some changes to zoning bylaws or some decisions regarding development might materially benefit someone who rents property. She wondered if this should be considered when appointing new members to the boards.

Hanneke said that in her time on CRC, that aspect has not been considered, but maybe should be in the future. She said that members of those boards have to comply with ethics law, and that they can not sit on a hearing where they are an abutter, although there are exceptions, such as when Amherst College wanted to improve one of its athletic fields and the Planning Board would not have a quorum if abutters were excluded. 

Taub said that other potential conflicts of interest exist. For instance, the chair of the Planning Board Doug Marshall is a planner at UMass, and it is the shortage of housing for UMass students that much of the Planning Board’s decisions seek to address.

In ZBA hearings, Greenbaum, a longstanding landlord in Amherst, has offered feedback on the content of proposed leases presented to the board as part of the management plan for proposed development.