Village Center Rezoning

This week Town Meeting will be discussion and hopefully passing Article 17 – Village Center rezoning.  Here are our views on this important legislation.

The problem is sprawl:  unplanned, uncontrolled development that spreads out into areas outside of town and village centers.

• Loss of agricultural land, habitat, rural character
• Over-dependence on the automobile, large carbon footprint
• Unplanned incursion of students into family neighborhoods
• Costly extension of sewer lines and other town services to low-density areas
• Lack of workforce and middle-income housing

How to fight sprawl:  promote a planned, controlled, and higher-density mix of housing and businesses in town and village centers, to protect open space in the rest of town.  This is what the community has said it wanted for years, and it was codified in the Master Plan.

Article 17 fights sprawl and protects open space by promoting environmentally sensible densification of housing and businesses in village centers where people can live, work, and access public transportation.

The alternative to Article 17 is the current hodgepodge.  The North Amherst triangle today is a largely unattractive, unplanned mix of old gas stations, street-side parking lots, student rental houses, grandfathered light industrial uses, and so on.  We can do better, and as the South Amherst village center develops, we want to avoid this there, too.

Article 17 uses “form-based code” for better control over how these village centers look and work, not just what types of uses are allowed.  The new zoning focuses on making the overall design of the village centers more walkable, liveable, connected, and coherent.  This includes the design of streetscapes, buildings, site layouts, open spaces, walking and biking lanes, and how these things are connected.  Large apartment buildings are discouraged by having to face a higher level of scrutiny from the ZBA.  Parking lots are placed out of sight.  Mixed-use commercial and residential development appealing to a variety of residents is encouraged.

Article 17 provides a blueprint for good planning of residential units, in a diverse mix.  This is important because many of our current housing problems come from a LACK of planning.  For example, the design of the Townhouse apartments in North Amherst provides large numbers of uniform, small units and interior courtyards – a recipe for large, uncontrolled gatherings of young people.  Article 17 would require a mix of 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and 3-bedroom unit types.  This is designed to encourage the diverse mix of housing types and residents (families, retirees, town employees, students, etc.) needed for both responsible behavior and a socially and economically vital village center.

Article 17 increases costs to developers up front in exchange for greater clarity about what types of development will be approved if they follow the rules.  The article does not approve any particular development.  What it does do, though, is lay out the rules in advance for what types of developments are likely to be approved and what types are going to have a hard time.  The town is better able to control the appearance, environmental footprint, and livability of these existing village centers, while builders have some assurance that if they spend money up front on planning and materials to meet these more-specific town standards they will be able to move forward.