Sustainable Amherst

In the blink of an eye, this fall’s Town Meeting has come and gone. Your town’s citizen-legislators needed only two nights this fall to conclude the town’s business. But it wasn’t because of a lightweight agenda that we tidied it all up so quickly. The warrant was packed with substantive changes to our town’s bylaws, including a number of zoning changes aimed at improving our tax base.

Town Meeting worked effectively in those two nights. We voted to allow doctors’ offices in our PRP zones – a sensible change that improves medical services in town while increasing the revenue-generating prospects for these business zones. We rezoned the neighborhood near the train station so that existing businesses are now conforming to the law and new businesses will be supported in this pedestrian-friendly area of town. We tweaked regulations so that more green building methods can be used by local builders and architects, as they have been asking. We acquired land to protect the town’s watershed. And of course, as everyone in the country seems to know, we passed a nonbinding resolution to welcome cleared detainees from Guantanamo (your Amherst Center columnists were split on this one). Whether or not you agree with all the results, it was quite a tidy bit of work for just two nights.

All parts of our town government are now working on making the adjustments needed to face these dire fiscal times. Certainly there have already been plenty of budget cuts, and there will be more. But we can’t just cut our way out of this crisis, so the town is working on the revenue side as well. The Planning Board is proposing zoning changes to increase smart, green development while preserving our open spaces, consistent with our citizen-developed master plan. The Select Board is providing sound policy guidance, and the town manager and planning and conservation staff are offering their professional support to put us on solid ground. These proposals are being vetted by a variety of citizen committees and approved by Town Meeting. Volunteer citizens like you are coming together to protect our town by moving it forward.

The shared values common to all of this work include: fiscal sustainability, strong public schools, open space, diversity and maintaining our small-town feel. But if we are to keep this forward momentum, we need a steady infusion of average, sensible folks willing to serve – people like you.

It used to be more daunting to serve in Town Meeting – it took more time and was much more contentious. But right now, if you total up the eight nights spent in spring Town Meeting and the two this fall, that’s only 10 nights that have been required of our august citizen-representatives this year. Think about it – surely you can devote that amount of time to help keep the progress going, to create a town that has its fiscal future in its own hands.

If you’re thinking, “Why, yes I can,” then please go see Sandy in the town clerk’s office in Town Hall and put your name on this next ballot. It’s easy, it’s important, and it’s even fun.

There are also a number of other citizen committees that help manage our small town and really make a difference. Want to help with planning and land use issues? The Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, or the Kendrick Park Committee need you. Are you a history buff or love architecture? How about joining the Historical Commission or the Design Review Board? Interested in agriculture and the outdoors? How about joining the Conservation Commission or the Agricultural Commission or the Norwottuck Trail Committee or even the Shade Tree Committee (yes, really). If you would like to volunteer for these or any of the other citizen committees in our town, just go to this Web address (http://bit.ly/amherst-caf), and it will bring you to the citizen activity form on the town Web site.

In these times when so much of the larger world around us is struggling, it’s a great feeling to go local. Join with your neighbors and invest a little of your time in our small town. Amherst needs you to volunteer locally.

Amherst Center is a monthly column that appears in The Amherst Bulletin and seeks to portray local issues from a centrist perspective. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill. Amherst Center appears in The Amherst Bulletin on the last Friday of each month.

Amherst’s 250th anniversary parade steps off this Sunday at 1 p.m., and we are looking forward to what promises to be the biggest and best parade this town has ever seen. But it got us thinking about what a parade that truly represented this wacky and lovable place we live in might look like. Here’s our tongue-in-cheek vision of how a couple of TV announcers might narrate that show.

“Well, Sharon, it’s great to be here in Am-Herst today for what looks like a spectacular event!”

“That’s right, Bob, and from our crow’s nest atop the beautiful CVS complex, we’ll bring you all the pomp and pageantry this pretty little college town has to offer. And they’re really pulling out all the stops. Here comes the first float now.”

“Right you are, Sharon, and it looks like it’s the Town Meeting float! Crafted from recycled warrant articles and anonymous position statements, it’s designed to look like the two-headed pushmi-pullyu from the beloved children’s book, ‘Doctor Dolittle.’”

“That’s pronounced ‘push-me-pull-you,’ right Bob? It’s a remarkable float, but it seems to be a little difficult to steer, as each of its heads appears to be pulling in opposite directions.”

“Well, Sharon, as that one spins painstakingly slowly down the street, what’s next?”

“That would be the Traffic Calming float, Bob. Sort of an experimental float, it keeps dropping speed bumps and Jersey barriers – and how about that, it looks like it’s diverting the parade onto some adjacent streets up ahead! Our producer is now estimating that the parade could last 8 hours!”

“These people are so creative, Sharon! It looks like we’ll be here awhile – what else can we expect?”

“Well, Bob, everyone is talking about the Party House float – decorated with old couches and plastic beer cups and featuring a soundtrack of thumping white-boy rap. It’s not here yet, but we expect it’ll be making the scene around 2 a.m.”

“Yes, and look at that float stuck on the side of the route, I think that’s the Sensible Development float – everyone says they love it, but we hear parade organizers had a heck of a time figuring out where to put it, since nobody wants it next to them.”

“Ho ho, and I hear there’s going to be a UMass float – word is they haven’t actually decided on a design theme yet, but they keep building it anyway.”

“And don’t forget the Lord Jeffery Amherst float – they say it’ll look like a brand new inn, as soon as they finish cleaning the blankets.”

“Well, here comes a bright orange and blue float, that’s the Shop Locally float – co-sponsored by the town of Hadley and Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Wal-Mart.”

“Oh, and wasn’t there going to be a Land Conservation float?”

“There was, Bob, but that one was nixed because they wanted to take up the entire parade!”

“Ha ha, Sharon – great to have this inside dope. And speaking of dope, what about the Extravaganja float?”

“Well, they’re trying to find it – it was last seen somewhere in the vicinity of Hampshire College.”

This stuff practically writes itself, if you’ve spent any time in town and love it as we do. But jokes aside, there are so many great reasons to celebrate Amherst, and so many other floats we could assemble in our parade of honor.

There’s the diversity float, celebrating the major element that distinguishes Amherst from other small country towns. There’s the CISA float, recognizing those true local heroes who do so much to sustain local farming. There’s the downtown wireless float, celebrating a benefit that many places lack – free wireless Internet access, aiding tech entrepreneurs and downtown businesses alike.

There’s the Kendrick Park float, recognizing the exciting chance to make a new, inviting public space downtown. There’s the town employee float, honoring the hard-working people who make this town run, and the citizen volunteer float, celebrating those who spend their spare time trying to help them.

We could go on and on, but it’s time for the real thing – see you at the parade this Sunday!

Amherst Center is a monthly column which appears in The Amherst Bulletin that seeks to portray local issues from a centrist perspective. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill.

Here we are in the dog days of summer – although if there’s a dog involved, it’s gone from wet and muddy to hot and sweaty! Hoping you’re reading this in the shade, we offer a picnic buffet of issues for your consideration.

Spring Town Meeting was both good news and bad news. The good news is that we actually met for significantly fewer sessions than usual. It may have felt longer, starting in early May and ending in late June to get the best state budget info possible, but we actually met for just eight sessions instead of the usual 10 or 12. Fewer sessions makes participation in Town Meeting more accessible, which we think makes for a better process.

The bad news is we had to pass one of most painful budgets in memory (see our June column for that pain). But Town Meeting’s consideration of this depressing budget was a relatively calm voting experience, because of hard work on the front end by the Budget Coordinating Group and the boards and staff it represents. With representatives from the schools, town, library and Finance Committee, the Budget Coordinating Group kept all the parties up to date on cuts needed and collaborating on how best to share the pain. The group is only a few years old, but we saw it come of age this year, as Town Meeting members for the most part found the budget they were presented with to be balanced and responsible. That’s good news, too.

New Superintendent of Schools Alberto Rodriguez arrived in town on July 1 and has hit the ground running. He has conducted an in-depth review of the district with the help of a national education expert and former colleague, Dr. Irwin Hamer, and identified several key areas for work, including curriculum alignment, data use, cost savings and communicating with the community. He has also engaged the Regional School Committee in a very collegial and productive workshop on goals and roles. We welcome the new energy and ideas in both the superintendent’s office and the School Committee, and we wish Dr. Rodriguez well. (You can read the Hamer report at www.arps.org.)

Rezoning the Professional Research Park land, which Town Meeting did last year to increase its viability, was touted as a way to allow in more professional offices and increase our tax base. Wondering how that piece is working out? Pretty well, actually. A homegrown Amherst environmental services company, New England Environmental, is building an innovative new “green” building in the PRP zone on Route 9 near Amherst Woods to house its offices, and there is talk of a second building next door to house other professional offices, in particular a doctors’ practice.

But Amherst being Amherst, we’ve hit another bump in the road, as it seems putting a few doctors in a PRP falls in between the existing categories of “professional offices by appointment” and “medical centers.” To its credit, the Planning Board zoning sub-committee has taken up this issue and is working to add language to the zoning bylaw that would clarify what is a small medical practice and allow it to fit into this PRP zone. With careful restrictions, the goal is to allow reasonable development in keeping with the planned use of these areas, while not unnecessarily inconveniencing neighbors who want to limit traffic. We see this as a sensible opportunity to fill a pressing need for more good, local doctors, even within walking distance of some neighborhoods. More importantly it is another piece in the puzzle of increasing our tax base so we can continue to afford the services that make Amherst home. Keep an eye out for this zoning change to come in front of Town Meeting this fall.

Plum Brook Athletic Fields are ready! Come out and join the community on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. when we will all be gathering on Potwine Lane for the grand opening of the Plum Brook Recreation Area athletic fields! A big “thanks” to everyone who helped make the fields a reality!

We may be in tough economic times, but Town Meeting and our town committees are rising to the challenge, we have a new forward-thinking superintendent, we are finally zoning for smart growth, and our kids have new soccer, field hockey, and ultimate fields to play on! Let’s keep meeting in Amherst Center!

Amherst Center is a monthly column which appears in The Amherst Bulletin that seeks to portray local issues from a centrist perspective. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill. Amherst Center appears in The Amherst Bulletin on the last Friday of each month.