Council backs Hampshire land plan, sets priorities

Select Board · Meeting of June 1, 2026

AMHERST — The Amherst Town Council voted 13-0 to authorize MassDevelopment planning for the former Hampshire College campus and to adopt land use priorities. Jeff Bagg outlined a process with a July listening session and a zoning proposal targeted for November or December. Councilor Andy Churchill presented the priorities, which favor housing and tax-generating uses on buildable land and preservation of sensitive areas.

The council also adopted a Human Rights Commission charge and rewrote the human rights bylaw unanimously. It appointed Jesse Major, Roy Johnson and Fred Hartwell to the Planning Board, with Hartwell approved 11-2 after substitutions of Evan Naismith, 5-8, and Glenn Hazleton failed.

In the full story:

• Capital Improvement Program Public Forum
• General Public Comment
• Consent Agenda
• Hampshire College Land Use Planning
• Council Statement on Hampshire Priorities
• Human Rights Commission Charge and Bylaw 3.3
• Water and Sewer Rates
• North Pleasant Street
• Planning Board Appointments
• Reports and Executive Session
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 1,988 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of June 1, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.