3.0 Land Use and Development - Town of Amherst

TOWN OF AMHERST BICENTENNIAL COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
ready access to shopping and other services. Adding office
space would create the opportunity to live, work, and shop in
the same vicinity, while a public facility or facilities (e.g., a
park or school) would increase the range of activities. The
result is an activity center that provides a focus for
surrounding neighborhoods while promoting land use
objectives such as compact, pedestrian-friendly development.
By definition, such activity centers are higher in density and
incorporate a wider range of uses than the lower density,
predominantly residential areas surrounding them.
Some established commercial centers in older parts of
Amherst, for example the Main Street/Eggert Road area in
Eggertsville, possess some of the attributes of a village or
traditional scale mixed-use activity center. However, as is
typical of most suburban communities, post-war growth in
Amherst has been principally automobile-oriented, single-use
developments. To promote a more integrated development
pattern, the Conceptual Land Use Plan designates mixed-use
activity centers in two contexts:
• Established centers of community activity, such as
clustered commercial uses, institutions, or community
facilities that serve surrounding neighborhoods. In
general, these locations could be enhanced to become
activity centers.
• In appropriate locations where centers of community
activity currently do not exist. Certain locations in the
central and northern parts of town suggest themselves for
development as new neighborhood-serving, mixed-use
centers based upon criteria such as road access, existing
zoning, and relationship to developed or developing
residential areas.
The mixed-use concept is explained more fully in the
discussion of mixed-use land use patterns in Section 3.3.
Strategies to achieve complementary mixes of uses in the
designated locations include:
• Improve regulations to encourage mixed-use. The
following approach should be taken to improve the
Town’s zoning districts to encourage more mixed-use
development:
− Evaluate existing commercial zoning districts for
opportunities to focus on scale, add complementary
uses, offer incentives, and add performance standards
− Evaluate the current mixed-use districts, which offer
variations on conventional “planned-unit
development,” for opportunities to facilitate the types
of development identified by the Conceptual Land
Strategies to Achieve Mixed-
Use Development Patterns
• Improve zoning districts to
encourage mixed uses
• Target public improvements to
promote private investment in
mixed-use centers
• Coordinate with other plan
strategies, such as
transportation and location of
community facilities
3-4
Town Board Adopted Plan (Amended March 2009) – Land Use and Development