Developer explores affordable housing project for Montague Road property

AMHERST — Between 140 and 150 affordable apartments could be brought to a Montague Road property, according to a preliminary examination of the North Amherst site by a Boston developer and its environmental consultants.

In an overview presented to the Conservation Commission Dec. 17, Darcy Jameson, vice president of development for Beacon Communities, said the company is “very preliminarily” looking into the opportunity to develop a portion of the 25-acre parcel at 246 Montague Road.

Because there are many wetlands and other natural resources on the property, known as the Mitchell Farm, Jameson said the developer would likely only be able to use the portion of the property closest to Montague Road/ Route 63. The property extends west toward Sunderland Road/ Route 116.

The site could accommodate 140 to 150 apartments in a 134,000 square foot, 4-story building, with 210 parking spaces.

The development would be smaller than one mentioned by Town Manager Paul Bockelman in a memo to the Town Council in late summer, which suggested that up to 200 units could be provided in two buildings. The site is a short distance from where Valley Community Development is constructing its Amherst Community Homes, on land off Route 63 between Ball Lane and Pulpit Hill Road.

Beacon previously handled the development of North Square at the Mill District, the 150-unit mixed-income, mixed-use development. Beacon also owns Rolling Green Apartments on Belchertown Road, helping to maintain the affordability of units there.

Adrienne Dunk, a consultant with GZA GeoEnvironmental, explained that the consultants did a delineation on the full 25 acres, but would only propose using areas where there would be no alteration to bordered vegetated wetlands.

Jameson said the development would be focused on previously disturbed land, with an existing farmhouse and barn to be demolished, showing that the land use issues are being taken seriously.

Before any site plan is prepared, Beacon would submit an Abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation, or ANRASD, to confirm wetlands. Once a site design is ready, state and local permitting could begin, possibly by seeking a Chapter 40B comprehensive permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Town board and committees would be involved, a review would be done by the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office and MassHighway would have to allow the necessary curb cuts.

Because the presentation was at the end of a more than three-hour meeting, where the commission also discussed a mixed use development between Belchertown Road and South East Street, there was little comment. Chairman Andrey Guidera said he appreciates that Beacon is making a good effort to stay within wetlands bylaws.

Any part of the property not developed would return to a natural state and might be appropriate for farming activity, such as a place for cows to graze.

The Mitchell site had been considered for development four years ago for the Eruptor high tech research center, an 80,000-square-foot building that was to be a place for laser technology, three-dimensional printing and sophisticated manufacturing equipment, as well as incubator space for laboratory work and start-up companies from the University of Massachusetts. That was eventually abandoned, in part due to the extensive wetlands on the site limiting the amount of usable land.

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