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Statement on Housing

Amherst Indy

First and foremost the Town Council must ensure that a wide diversity of voice are included in all our planning processes, but especially our treasured Town Center.  A small number of people with similar ideas on the CRC and the Planning Board are promoting policy priorities and zoning strategies that do not include the broad spectrum of ideas that are needed.  The result is clear.  Recent development downtown is a mono-culture of large buildings that the vast majority of people agree do not enhance the appearance, ambiance or character of our downtown.  If it were not for the added tax revenue, I doubt anyone would say “Wow, I like the way these building enhance the attractiveness of our downtown”.  Consider, if such buildings were placed outside the Town Center they would bring us the same tax revenue.  As a Town Councilor, I would not try to stop the building of such complexes, but I would advocate that they be built elsewhere.

 

So, what kind of policies, incentives and zoning changes would encourage development that does enhance the appearance, ambiance and character of or Town Center?  There is no simple or easy solution.  We need to think broadly and develop a wide matrix of strategies that encourage and incentivize a diversity of creative infill styles over a much wider range of sizes.  We need to encourage and incentivize small scale incremental infill.  However, it is not the job for a handful of Councilors to figure out.  It is the job of the Town Council to set priorities that reflect the collective will and wishes of the town.  The Town Council then directs the Town Manager through his professional planners to do research on what has worked in other communities.  Public forums are held, not to fulfill some legal obligation of public outreach, but to genuinely solicit a broad spectrum of ideas and invite active participation of a wide network of people.  Further the Town Council must ensure that the Planning Board is populated by a representative cross section of our town.  The membership of the Planning Board should be increased to it former size of nine members.  The Planning Board needs to make time for planning and visioning, not just the clerical work of approving building projects.  The Planning Board also need to frequently invite public input in its meeting and it subcommittees.  Two year ago when I was trying to become a Planning Board member, I would attend Planning Board Zoning Sub-committee meeting.  These meeting were informal and members of the public sat at the same table as the board members and the professional planners.  Frequently there was a rich exchange of ideas on a variety of subjects.  Everyone participated and was heard.  The Town Council should do its part to encourage the expansion of such practices that tap the collective wisdom of our town.  It is in this manner that we might begin to solve what otherwise might seem to be intractable problems.

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