Long Rancorous Discussion Precedes Vote on Planning Board Appointment
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Report on the Meeting of the Town Council, June 1, 2026, Part 2
By Maura Keene
This was a hybrid meeting held at Town Hall. It was recorded.
Present
Mandi Jo Hanneke (President, at large), Jill Brevik and Cathy Schoen (District 1), Amber Cano-Martin and Lynn Griesemer (District 2), Hala Lord and George Ryan (District 3), Pam Rooney and Jennifer Taub (District 4), Ana Devlin Gauthier and Sam MacLeod (District 5), and Andy Churchill and Ellisha Walker (at large)
Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager) and Athena O’Keeffe (Council Clerk)
After a difficult discussion on May 28, the Community Resources Committee (CRC) recommended that Jesse Mager and Fred Hartwell be reappointed to the Planning Board and that Roy Johnson fill the remaining vacant seat. Although there was consensus around Mager and Johnson, the CRC was split 3-2 on Hartwell.
After an even more contentious discussion, the Town Council voted to approve the CRC’s recommendations, with the third seat coming down to a contested choice between Hartwell and Evan Naismith. Mager and Johnson were approved unanimously.
Mager is a UMass professor who has served one three-year term on the Planning Board. He chairs the board’s Planning and Zoning Subcommittee, and rents out several properties of his own. Johnson is a former UMass gymnastics coach and a long-time Amherst realtor. He has construction experience and has participated in several housing projects in town and in the area. CRC Chair Pam Rooney characterized him thus: “He understands cost ramifications of what it takes to build affordably, and he is pro-development in his attitude.”
The council’s motion to reappoint Hartwell ran into some roadblocks. George Ryan proposed an amendment to the motion to nominate Hartwell, substituting Naismith for Hartwell. Rooney noted that Hartwell is a retired master electrician who has building experience and is well-versed in building code. He has written zoning amendments that have been adopted and has rented out one or two units in his house for many years.
In supporting Naismith, Ryan stated that Hartwell served six years on the Planning Board in the 1990s, so another term would give him 12 years on the board. He described Naismith as “passionate” and “informed about housing and the kinds of housing issues the town faces.” He added that Naismith’s approach “strikes me as evidence-driven, not ideological.” Ryan added that Naismith is the only candidate who mentioned renters and students in his statement of interest, “and that someone needs to be a voice for those two crucial constituencies and their housing concerns.” He added that Naismith, a law student at UConn, would hopefully live in Amherst for the foreseeable future and would have to live for some time with the decisions the Planning Board makes.
Ryan’s advocacy raised serious concerns on the part of several councilors. At the CRC meeting, councilors avoided calling attention to candidates’ shortcomings, but that was not the case here. Cathy Schoen pointed out “factual errors on a major level constantly” in Naismith’s writing, speaking, and advocacy, including on the handout he gave to councilors at this meeting. She also found that the data cited in the articles he referenced did not support his argument in another article in The Amherst Current. Finally, she pointed out that Naismith owns a house and lives in Amherst Woods, where two other members of the Planning Board live, and where very little additional development is likely to occur.
Jennifer Taub agreed that having three out of seven members of approximately the same age who live in Amherst Woods, which has the most exclusive single-family housing zoning in town, would not be advisable. She added that she also has received several emails from Naismith with factual errors. For example, he maintains that there are no more students living off campus now than there were in 2002, even though many large apartment complexes have been built in town that are occupied mainly by students. Naismith also objects to building more student housing on campus, when UMass students have asked for more on-campus housing because of the high rents charged by landlords in town.
Rooney noted that last year, Ryan had also substituted someone for appointment to the Planning Board who had not been recommended by the CRC. That action resulted in another young Amherst Woods resident, Angus McLeod, replacing Karin Winter on the board, which will now have no women. “We have not appointed people who spoke too strongly about their neighbors or too strongly about the need for public input, and here we have someone speaking very strongly about another aspect of life in Amherst. We’re being a little hypocritical,” she said, and decried Naismith’s “aggressiveness in pushing his data, which is not always accurate.”
Amber Cano-Martin described an incident where Naismith approached her and another female town council candidate, “sitting us down and talking at us for about an hour about housing policy almost without letting us speak or asking us any questions about what we thought or what our experience was. He clearly is enthusiastic and he wants to be of service, but I think that should not be the only characteristic on which we judge applicants.” She added that she appreciates what Naismith said about representing people who are marginalized, such as renters and people of color, but he has not mentioned which of those groups he has allied with or spoken to, or whether he supports rent control.
Cano-Martin, Jill Brevik, and Ellisha Walker lamented the lack of diversity in the Planning Board applicants, and wanted the council to do more to get people of color, renters, and women to apply. Hala Lord felt the council should follow the recommendations of the CRC, which conducted the interviews. All were uncomfortable that this public discussion was so personal. They worried that discussions such as these may discourage others from applying to committees.
In supporting Naismith, Ana Devlin Gauthier stated that Naismith was enthusiastic about developing policies that would make housing in Amherst more equitable. Andy Churchill admitted that Naismith “can come on fairly strong,” but is willing to listen and receives feedback with respect.
The vote to substitute Naismith for Hartwell was defeated 5-8 (with Sam MacLeod, Mandi Jo Hanneke, Churchill, Devlin Gauthier, and Ryan voting yes, and Rooney, Taub, Lord, Walker, Cano-Martin, Brevik, Schoen, and Lynn Griesemer voting no).
After the vote, Churchill moved to substitute Glenn Hazelton for Hartwell. Hazelton is a retired landscape architect who is well versed in GIS. He moved to Amherst five years ago, and this is his first application for appointment to a town board.
This substitution was also defeated by a vote of 3-7-3. (Ryan, MacLeod, and Churchill voted yes, Schoen, Brevik, and Griesemer abstained.)
Finally, after over an hour of discussion, Hartwell was appointed by an 11-2 vote (Hanneke and Ryan voted no).
Naismith’s Public Comment
In their support of Naismith’s candidacy, some councilors referenced the public comment he made at the beginning of the meeting in which he assailed Amherst’s housing policy, which he said was established by Town Meeting to benefit affluent home owners rather than renters and low income residents. He pledged, “Throughout this summer, I plan on introducing half a dozen zoning bylaws aimed at increasing renter affordability.” No other candidate for the planning board spoke during public comment, and the action of promoting his candidacy, just prior to the council’s deliberations appeared to be unprecedented.