By Allison McDonald

A report on the regular meeting of the Amherst Town Council on Monday, May 18.

At its May 18 meeting, the Amherst Town Council received a sobering update on the town’s expanded rental registration and inspection program, alongside impassioned public comment on the collapse of the Beacon Communities affordable housing project at 246 Montague Road.

Rental Inspections: Violations in Most Units, Serious Issues in Half

Building Commissioner Rob Morra gave a presentation about the Town’s implementation of the updated rental bylaw. The original bylaw was created in 2014 primarily as a “registration and complaint response program.” One staff person was dedicated to the program, responding to complaints that came into their office. The Town Council passed a major update to the bylaw in 2024, enhancing permitting requirements and adding an inspection component to the program.

Morra reported that the registration and permitting program updates were implemented in May 2025, and the inspection program later in 2025. In the one year since initial implementation, more than 1,300 properties and 5,600 units have enrolled in the program. In roughly six months of active inspections, staff conducted 2,125 inspections, revealing problems in the vast majority of units.

Morra said about 96% of inspected units had at least minor violations, and 43% had at least one serious violation—numbers he cautioned were based on an initial sample but that underscore the need for systematic inspections.

Inspectors are finding issues such as:

• Exposed or improperly wired electrical fixtures  
• Rotting or unstable handrails and exterior stairs pulling away from buildings  
• Persistent mildew and possible mold from past flooding that was never fully remediated  
• A sewer pipe with a hole venting sewer gas into a unit  
• Deteriorating asbestos insulation on basement piping

“These issues… are being addressed,” Morra told councilors. “I think this is really doing a great service by making sure that these units are in good condition for the tenants.”

On occupancy, scheduled inspections identified only two of the more than 5.6K units inspected violating the “no more than four unrelated persons” rule, though Morra noted that figure applies only to the scheduled inspection cohort, not to complaint‑driven enforcement.

Most landlords, he said, have been cooperative; refusals to allow inspections have been the exception, not the rule.

The program was built around two inspector positions, plus support staff, but has effectively been operating with one inspector for much of the period reported, after the retirement of the longtime lead inspector. At that staffing level, several councilors warned, the intended five‑year inspection cycle could stretch toward ten.

Financially, the program is close to paying for itself. Morra said FY26 personnel costs are around $440,000, with about $398,000 projected in permit and inspection revenues, supplemented by a portion of UMass Strategic Partnership funds designated for safe and healthy housing.

Councilors broadly praised the program as essential in a town where a majority of residents are renters and where market pressures are intense.

Beacon Project Fallout: “A Moral Outrage” and a Missed Opportunity

Public comment at the beginning of the meeting featured sharp criticism of the failure of the Beacon Communities project at 246 Montague Road, which would have created more than 100 new affordable homes for seniors and working families.

Longtime resident Vince O’Connor said that “Amherst has a UMass housing problem, not a housing problem per se,” and attributed this to “UMass’s refusal to build affordable housing for its students.” He added that the “lawsuit filed against the project was not frivolous, because it ultimately would have defrocked the [town] manager of his power to act unilaterally as the community’s so-called executive authority.”

Planning Board member Jerah Smith, speaking as a resident, called the loss of Beacon “a moral outrage” and a failure of political will.

“The death of the proposal for affordable homes for seniors and working families at 246 Montague Road… is a moral outrage.”

He urged the town to approach large-scale housing proposals differently: “For anybody who is serious about supporting housing affordability, you need to start with a ‘yes‑how‑can‑we‑do‑that’ mindset, not an ‘only‑if’ mindset. When someone comes to us with a plan to build 140 homes, we should have said, ‘Hell, yes. How do we make this happen?’ But we didn’t.”

Smith framed the Beacon failure not as an isolated setback but as part of a broader pattern that leaves working families with nowhere to go.

District 2 resident Jason Dorney likewise warned that rejecting imperfect projects in hopes of an ideal solution leaves the town with no new homes at all.

“The Beacon project would have been a good project… We can’t let some high‑minded ideal of some great project get in the way of allowing some of the dirty work to happen. We have to build housing.”

He pushed back on efforts to shift blame primarily to UMass: “Amherst has a housing affordability problem. Period. We cannot force UMass to do anything… Denying that we have a housing affordability problem is just burying our heads in the sand and wishing for somebody to come in and save us.”

Several speakers linked the Beacon decision to broader concerns about who gets to live in Amherst, pointing to rising rents, long commutes for workers and students, and the scarcity of options for seniors and lower‑income households.

Other Business

Town Charter Review

The council revisited the “Beyond the Charter” section of the Charter Review Committee’s final report, which listed six major structural issues that would require the creation of a new Charter Commission and townwide vote in order to be pursued. These include:

• Changing Amherst to a mayor–council form of government
• Returning to Town Meeting
• Creating a smaller Town Council (e.g., 7–9 members)
• Lengthening and staggering terms for elected offices
• Allowing council to increase budget line items without increasing the total budget
• Electing Planning Board, ZBA, and Finance Committee resident members

After extended debate about feasibility, expectations, and the role of a future Charter Commission, the council voted 9–2 (two absent) to hold a townwide “listening session” within six months to discuss these six major structural changes. Councilors Mandi Jo Hanneke (At-Large) and Cathy Schoen (District 1) opposed the motion, expressing concern about raising expectations for changes the council cannot itself implement, especially major shifts like a mayor–council system or return to Town Meeting.

Hampshire College

Town Manager Paul Bockelman briefed the council on the rapidly evolving situation at Hampshire College, including:

• Complete campus closure after commencement
• A letter of interest from Trustees of Reservations and Kestrel Land Trust
• Work with the Hampshire College Early Learning Center to seek a new fiscal sponsor or location
• Preliminary work with the state on technical assistance for land use and zoning planning related to Hampshire properties

Town Proclamations

The council adopted a broad consent agenda on a unanimous vote that included the following proclamations:

• Proclamation Recognizing June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month
• Proclamation Recognizing Juneteenth (June 19, 2026)
• Race Amity Day Proclamation (June 14, 2026)

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The next Town Council meeting is on Monday, June 1 and will include a public forum on the proposed FY27 capital improvement program.

An artificial-intelligence tool assisted in the making of this article by summarizing a recording of the meeting which was reviewed and adapted by the writer.