Affordable Housing Debate Continues

Applicants for a controversial affordable housing development in Amherst now have two months before a decision is made to approve or reject the project.

The planning board voted on Wednesday to table their decision on the suitability of the project until April; giving the applicant time to gather more information and meet with opposing abutters.

Green Partners, LLC and affiliates are looking to construct affordable housing units off of Limbo Lane and Route 101, which would be across from The Meeting Place Plaza.

Members of the board have expressed concern over the sound levels at the proposed development, which may not meet national standards for residential areas. Studies have been done on the property to determine whether its proximity to Route 101 would be an issue.

Planning Board member Gordon Leedy said he doesn’t think the residential development is suitable for that area and noise levels can only get worse.

“This road is getting busier all the time,” said Leedy. “The noise levels from traffic are highly unlikely to diminish in the future.”

Attorney Greg Michael, who represents the applicants, said that he believes the sound levels are suitable, but added that a wall could be constructed to reduce sound levels.

Members of the board did not seem comfortable with having a wall built right next to the highway at the entrance of town. 

Planning Board member Michael Orfano said that a wall is not suitable as a gateway to Amherst. He also stressed that the property had been zoned for office space, which would be the best economic use. 

“Occupying one hundred percent of that land for affordable housing has a negative impact to abutters and long term negative impact to the future growth of the center of town,” said Orfano.

Michael said his clients are willing to reduce the amount of homes from 18 to 14, and would implement a ten-year hiatus on further residential development on the property in order to market it for commercial development.

Planning board member Marilyn Peterman said that there have been no applications for the property since it was zoned for general office use in 1985.

Michael said they have looked into residential versus general office use of the property and said they believe affordable housing would provide a better tax situation than offices.

This development has been and other residents who do not want to see the property turned into residential housing.

Attorney Helen Holden Slottje told the board that the project was unsuitable on many levels while speaking on behalf of the abutters.

She argued that restrictive covenants prevent the construction of affordable housing on the property and many conditions have not been met in the proposed project.

Holden said that the abutters, including property owners in Blueberry Estates, have important property rights that would be impeded by this construction.

“A project that violates the bargained for rights of the abutters is not harmonious,” said Holden.

Michael said that these covenants were not carefully applied and that the project meets the standards required to go forward.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Carol Holden, who is Helen Holden’s mother, has led the effort against the project through a group called Citizen’s for Amherst’s Future. She collected 171 signatures in a petition that stated the project is unsuitable and a poor economic decision.

Holden said at the meeting that the town has plenty of affordable housing available and that area is the last vacant parcel of land zoned for office use that is near the Amherst Village.

Justin Bielagus of Andover Consulting Group, Inc., said that these allegations against the project are false and efforts to meet with Holden to talk things over have been ignored.

He said that this development would have less impact on the property than any other use and that there is “plenty of office space” in town.

Bielagus showed frustration with the zoning of the property, saying it had been “zoned into a box” and the regulations affecting it are “crazy.” 

“You wouldn’t have any cities, you wouldn’t have any highways if you followed these regulations,” he said. “We need some common sense and we need a rational approach.”

A decision will be made on the proposed development during the planning board's meeting on April 18.