Planning Board Votes 4-3 for Historic District
Amherst's Planning Board narrowly backed a scaled-down East Amherst Local Historic District, voting 4-3 to recommend it to Town Council.
Planning Board · Meeting of August 19, 2026
Amherst's Planning Board narrowly backed a scaled-down East Amherst Local Historic District, voting 4-3 to recommend it to Town Council. Clerk Bruce Coldham, Frederic Hartwell, Roy Johnson and Jesse Mager voted yes; Chair Douglas Marshall, Angus McLeod and Jerah Smith voted no, arguing the 22-property district near Main Street came at the wrong time for an area poised for infill. Local Historic District Commission Chair Nancy Ratner and residents Hilda Greenbaum and Kitty Axelson-Berry urged approval, citing the town's 2010 master plan.
McLeod countered that he "fear[ed] it could hinder" future planning for the area. The same meeting, the board heard from consultants Horsley Witten Group and Dodson & Flinker on rezoning Hampshire College's roughly 800-acre campus, with a draft zoning package due in January. The board also continued, without a vote, a long-stalled proposal to allow housing in the town's Professional and Research Park zoning district.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,541 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of August 19, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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