Amherst Center: Economic development -- let's get specific

Published on November 30, 2007

There has been a lot of hopeful talk lately about economic development. And recently, Town Meeting voted to encourage sensible, Amherst-friendly, revenue-generating activity in some areas of town. We congratulate Town Manager Larry Shaffer, Select Board Chairman Gerry Weiss, Senior Planner Jonathan Tucker, the Planning Board and its zoning subcommittee, and the more than two-thirds of Town Meeting members who made this happen.

But questions remain in many people's minds: What might we mean by economic development? Where would this stuff go? And how much would it help our fiscal situation?

We need to talk about specific projects. Otherwise, naysayers fill the gap with fear: The Wal-Mart wolves are at the door; big-box stores and strip-malls will pave our paradise and put up their parking lots.

Rather than talking about what we are afraid of and what we want to stop, let's engage in conversation about what we want to create in Amherst - specific economic development projects that make both fiscal and environmental sense.

So, if we were to envision a few key, revenue-generating, Amherst-appropriate development projects, what would they look like? Well, one of them is already in the works: Veridian Village at Hampshire College. This "green" housing development, targeted toward active elders, will be located near Atkins Corner and is projected to generate $750,000 in annual tax revenues upon completion. That's right; over a third of our town's structural deficit can be alleviated by a single project!

What other development might make sense? Here are three specific ideas.

Create a "green" research park
With hundreds of researchers, thousands of graduates each year and cutting-edge programs in renewable energy, polymer science, computer science, nanotechnology, engineering and management, Amherst has workforce and research strengths that are attractive to knowledge-based companies. SunEthanol, a spin-off of UMass research, has started operations in town, and its principals talk glowingly of recruiting other like-minded businesses to create an alternative energy cluster.

Amherst has about 80 buildable acres in North Amherst already zoned as a research park. Near Route 116 and not far from UMass, this location seems perfect for development.

But what would make it truly "Amherst-appropriate" would be to develop this space as a model of "green" research space. With resource-efficient construction, attractive and low-impact design, and public/alternative transportation linkages, Amherst could market this space to the kinds of forward-thinking companies that can help change the world for the better, even as we make Amherst stronger by generating tax revenues in the process.

Build a (taxable) "student village" near the university, outside existing neighborhoods
Amherst has a number of farms in town, but our number-one crop is college students. To carry this metaphor further, we can either see them as annoying weeds, or we can see them as a valuable harvest.

Other college towns, such as Ithaca, N.Y., have designated certain areas for student-related development - and generated substantial tax revenues in the process. With multi-story buildings combining living space, college offices and student-focused businesses, a student village could reduce rental and traffic pressures on other neighborhoods and capture economic activity that would otherwise go to Hadley or elsewhere.

Let's work with UMass to identify a location near campus and outside existing neighborhoods for development as a mixed-use student village. University Drive is a likely location; perhaps UMass could be convinced to transfer some land on the north side of Amity Street to the town for taxable development.

Redevelop the north end of the downtown as an attractive and vital gateway
The north end of the downtown (Triangle and North Pleasant, around Bertucci's) is well situated as a northern gateway to the town and an eastern gateway to the university. Right now there are aging single-story buildings and expanses of parking lots that sprawl unattractively. Yet this area has a lot of potential.

Plans are in the works to develop Kendrick Park, perhaps like Sweetser Park, adding attractions and making it a more interesting destination. Why not work on the other side of the street as well? This seems like a prime location for multi-story, mixed-used development: retail and restaurants on the first floor, offices on the second floor, and residential units above that.

The streetscape here could look more like the other end of the downtown (or Northampton), with buildings along the sidewalk and parking hidden behind. We have a Redevelopment Authority chartered for projects like these; let's put them to work on this.

Walking-friendly, higher-density communities downtown and around the university, plus a "green" research park - these are specific projects that can harness our unique strengths as a university/college town, ensure our fiscal sustainability, and support our shared environmentalist ethic.

Let's meet in the middle and talk about what we can create together, not just what we can stop.

Amherst Center is a monthly column that looks at local issues from a centrist point of view. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill.