Amherst Redevelopment Authority chairman John Coull said consultants will listen to what residents want and don't want and then come up with a plan that reflects that.
AMHERST – As John Coull, chairman of the Amherst Redevelopment Authority has said on many occasions – there is no plan. Not yet.
John CoullBut from Thursday through Saturday nights, anyone one who wants to help shape a vision for the Gateway project should attend one or all three meetings at the Bangs Community Center, where consultants will gather comments, concerns and suggestions.
The town and the University of Massachusetts plan to develop an 1,800-foot stretch of land at North Pleasant Street connecting the northern end of Amherst’s downtown business center with the UMass campus. The idea is to create a mixed use plan that could include businesses and some kind of housing to benefit the town and the university.
In March, the town selected the New York-based ACP Visioning & Planning, Ltd., the same firm that worked with the community on development of the Amherst Master Plan, to create a project vision.
“I’m hoping people with divergent interests are there (at the meetings,)” Coull said. “I’m hoping there is a good deal of consensus on which to build a plan. Contrary to people’s concerns, I don’t have a plan.”
He said consultants will listen to what residents want and don’t want and then come up with a “plan that reflects that.”
With the different sessions over the three nights, officials were hoping “to make it possible for anybody to get there at some time,” Coull said.
Consultants will work with town staff to refine the vision and in June will present that vision a well as steps for the Amherst Redevelopment Authority to take to implement it. That will include any necessary zone changes that Town Meeting would have to consider. All public meetings will be held from 6 to 9 p.m.
During the day Friday and Saturday, consultants will work with staff to refine the plan based on comments and concerns from the previous night.
UMass and the town signed a memorandum of understanding that UMass will convey the UMass land to the town once a vision and plan are created. The state legislature needs to pass legislation to finalize that transfer.
A portion of the parcel under consideration for development was once the home of four UMass fraternities and one sorority that have been razed.