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Date: 8/23/2022
AMHERST – The Amherst Planning Board heard a request for a second special permit to be granted to 1147 N. Pleasant St. to allow the construction of a one-family detached dwelling to be added to the property, joining the existing duplex on the property.
The request, presented by property owner Michael Holden, will go before the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) for a vote on Aug. 25.
Planning Board Chair Doug Marshall said the primary reason they asked for Michael to present his application to the Planning Board was because the board was interested in learning the way that Michael would be allowed to build a second unit on the same property.
“The reason this is being allowed to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals in this manner is because there is an existing special permit on this property, and the special permit is for a two-family house,” said Planning Director Chris Brestrup. “Normally, if you had a single-family house on a property, you wouldn’t be able to add another single-family house because there’s no mechanism to do that in the zoning bylaw. Since this already has the special permit on it, the door is kind of open to having another special permit to do something else.”
Section 3.01 of the zoning bylaw states that the development or operation on a single lot of more than one dwelling or more than one of the principal uses described in Section 3.3 is prohibited, except where the principal uses are “clearly complementary to each other, or otherwise provided by this bylaw.”
Holden said he purchased the property about 14 years ago as a non-owner-occupied home with a variety of uses.
“Prior to us purchasing it, it was [a doctor’s office] on the first floor in the front,” Holden said. “It had an apartment in the back that was occupied and a small apartment on the second floor that was occupied. All of which wasn’t technically on record with the town, it was listed as a single-family house with commercial use, but I don’t think they had been approved to have the two apartment units in it.”
Holden said he went through the special permit process after purchasing the property to convert the home into a two-family dwelling, with the front section having four bedrooms and the back section having two. Holden said the house continued to be non-owner-occupied until recently, when his family of five decided to move to Amherst from Bernardston in the fall of last year.
“We, as a family, have decided we want to stay in Amherst long-term,” Holden said. “The kids are all loving the school system. The issue with it is that the front part of the house is not conducive to a family of five. Technically, it’s listed as a four-bedroom, but it’s really a three-bedroom with a fairly large living room and dining space.”
Holden’s original purchase was for two lots that became one when he made the unit a two-family house. Holden said they had the land surveyed and it met the coverage requirements for building another unit for his family to live at.
“It just seemed like a perfect opportunity for us to be able to live in a great location conducive to my family of five where all three kids can go to school just a couple of miles up the road and have the bus right in front of our house,” Holden said.
The board verbally supported Holden’s plan but avoided submitting a formal recommendation of approval to the ZBA, to let them decide if the units fit the zoning bylaw’s definition of being “clearly complementary.”
The board said that if the ZBA does find Holden’s prospective building complementary, it would recommend a condition to maintain owner occupancy on the property, either in the single-family unit or the current duplex.