Amherst Town Council rejects candidate over tilt toward abutters

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 07-17-2024 9:31 PM

AMHERST — Written and oral comments from a resident indicating she would prioritize views of abutters when decisions are made by the Planning Board, and might bring a confrontational relationship toward the University of Massachusetts, have cost her a position on the municipal permitting panel.

A divided Town Council voted 6-5 Monday against the appointment of Melissa Farris of Lincoln Avenue to serve on the Planning Board, despite a narrow favorable recommendation from the council’s Community Resources Committee that she fill the position being vacated by Janet McGowan.

District 2 Councilor Pat De Angelis said she worries that Farris would prioritize input from neighbors rather than following the town’s master plan and current policies.

“That really concerns me,” De Angelis said, recalling that neighbors tried to stop the East Gables affordable housing development on Northampton Road, which opened in 2023.

“I feel really strongly that it is important to have people on the Planning Board who aren’t there for only one reason, which is to protect themselves,” De Angelis said. “We are bigger than that in so many ways.”

At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke, too, said the comments from Farris were troubling. “Her implication is that if you are an abutter, your opinion matters more than anyone else in town, that’s her implication,” Hanneke said.

De Angelis and Hanneke were joined in voting against the appointment by Council President Lynn Griesemer, At Large Councilor Andy Steinberg, District 3 Councilor George Ryan and District 5 Councilor Bob Hegner, while At Large Councilor Ellisha Walker, District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, District 3 Councilor Heather Hala Lord and District 4 Councilors Jennifer Taub and Pamela Rooney supported Farris. District 1 Councilor Ndifreke Ette abstained, and District 5 Councilor Ana Devlin Gauthier was absent.

Before the vote on Farris, councilors unanimously reappointed Doug Marshall, the current Planning Board chairman without any discussion. A third candidate for the Planning Board, Lawrence Kluttz, was left in limbo, initially voted down in a 5-4 vote, with three abstentions, though a second effort to put Kluttz on the board, in a motion made by Hanneke, was delayed to the council’s next meeting, on Aug. 19.

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

Families alerted about middle school student’s Nazi salute
Amherst man pleads guilty to child porn charges
‘If you can hit one note and hit it hard’: Western Mass Sacred Harp singers ready for biggest annual event
Amherst College giving $2.5M to the town over next three years
20-plus job cuts coming as Belchertown school board told the cupboard’s bare
Hadley backs completion of 104-mile rail trial to Boston

“I want to postpone that. I think it’s outrageous,” Schoen said.

Ryan initially amended the motion to put Kluttz on the Planning Board, contrasting her with Farris, who he says views UMass as a punching bag for challenges the town is facing with housing. Kluttz moved to Amherst from Durham, North Carolina in 2023.

“I think Mr. Kluttz, given his lived experience in a college town and his appreciation of the vital importance of a positive and healthy town-gown relationship, would strongly resist that narrative, and would be a more positive and productive voice on the Planning Board,” Ryan said.

Ryan also pointed to a letter Farris wrote on Feb. 20, 2023 in which she told the Town Council that Marshall has potential conflicts between his professional work as a planner at UMass and his service to town, writing the conflict is “self-evident.”

“It doesn’t lend itself to the appearance of trust and transparency of town governance,” she wrote. “As a resident of Amherst, Mr. Marshall is certainly welcome to serve on any number of other our boards and committees, but as a matter of town policy, planners, while in the active employ of UMass, should not be allowed to serve on our Planning Board, particularly as its chair.”

Steinberg appreciated that Kluttz wrote in his statement of interest about principles of economic vitality, environmental stewardship, community engagement and transportation infrastructure that would guide him.

Schoen, though, called Farris a “very interesting candidate.” “I think it would be unfortunate to search the press for comments people have made, especially when issues are close to people’s heart,” Schoen said.

Taub said Farris is woman of Middle Eastern descent and would bring diversity and shouldn’t be demonized for her previous comments. “I think having the concern that a senior planner for the university maybe should not serve as a Planning Board chair, I think that is a concern she has every right to express,” Taub said.

And Farris would work well with UMass, Taub said. “There was nothing that Miss Farris said that would in anyway suggest an adversarial relationship,” Taub said.

Ette said the council discussion may chill people from seeking positions unless they are in alignment with certain views. “The possibility is that you may have said something that would put you in one camp or the other, or more unluckily, you may have said nothing at all, in which case no one wants you,” Ette said.

The discussion and vote was reminiscent of meetings in July 2022 when the Town Council rejected John Varner from serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals. Despite the support of majority of those who voted, Varner was not appointed, in part because he indicated he would defer to abutter concerns.