Atkins Corner Redevelopment Study

Location: Amherst, Massachusetts
Date Completed: 2002
Client: Town of Amherst Planning Department

In 2001 the Town of Amherst received a grant from U.S. EPA to study the redevelopment of the Atkins Corner area of South Amherst. The town asked Dodson Associates to work with Atkins Farm Market, Hampshire College, neighborhood residents and other citizens to create a masterplan and design guidelines for a Smart Growth approach to redeveloping the site as a mixed-use village of retail, office, and affordable housing.

An aerial photograph of the study area. The site is nestled at the foot of the Holyoke Mountain Range and is experiencing rapid growth in a rural context.

Dodson Associates began the process by presenting base plans and site analyses at a public workshop. The project team introduced various principles of Smart Growth, traffic calming and sustainable development to the meeting attendees. Exercises involved participants in discussing conceptual approaches to mixed use development, identifying valuable natural and cultural resources and programming for uses. A month later, Dodson Associates followed up with a two-day charrette designed to quickly generate a range of plan alternatives. On a Friday the team installed a display at the town hall, worked on plans, and met with various town staff and key landowners. This was followed the next day with a presentation and discussion of three alternatives at a public workshop with neighborhood residents. More work in the studio and consultation with town staff and major stakeholders and property owners helped us synthesize the plans into a preferred alternative presented at a third workshop. Several detailed perspective illustrations, together with numerous photographs of comparable projects around the country, were presented, and became an important part of the final report.

Concept diagrams help to sort out different approaches to traffic planning and land uses.

Plans done quickly on trace were cleaned up, colored, and photographed for presentation at the second workshop.

Throughout the process, digital cameras, laptops and digital projectors help to manage and present information, and make the most of a tight budget. Dodson Associates is well versed in the use of CAD, GIS, Photoshop, Powerpoint, and Pagemaker, and has learned to combine these digital tools with old-fashioned paper and pencil to get great results at a low cost. On both regional and site levels, Dodson Associates combines the principles of Smart Growth with the public process to produce plans and designs that help communities realize and invest in their vision for a sustainable city, town or site.

Two final reports, an 80 page "Workbook of Design Options for Sustainable Development: Options for Sustainable Development" and a second report, "Action Steps for a Better Amherst" were produced. The "Action Steps" report contained strategies, implementation steps and suggested regulatory changes to promote sustainable development practices at Atkins Corner and throughout Amherst

A final plan and perspective illustrations explore details of architecture, planting, parking, and circulation.