Local business owner urges Amherst to allow surface treating as a lower-cost alternative to asphalt

At a public hearing on proposed "business friendliness" ordinance amendments, Steve Martin, owner of Martin's Paint Body Shop, asked the Amherst Town Council to allow surface treating as an alternative to asphalt for driveways and business parking areas.

Martin told the council surface treating would be "a fair compromise and less of a hardship on small local businesses than ASR," saying the cost of asphalt resurfacing has risen sharply since the 2003 ordinance. "The cost of ASR has increased over 300% since the 2003 ordinance was enacted," he said, and argued that prohibiting lower-cost options drives out small operators. He also cited environmental concerns with asphalt: heat, impervious surface runoff and effects on creeks and streams.

Miss McGuffin, planning staff, told the council the planning commission forwarded its recommended version of the ordinance and that staff's recommendation was to hold the public hearing and schedule the item for a work session next month if councilors wish to consider changes. The council set the ordinance for a future work session; no vote to change the ordinance was taken at this meeting.

Martin urged councilors to "show us" they are business friendly by adopting options that reduce costs for local businesses; no financial studies or written cost analyses were presented during his comment. The transcript does not record a staff response that disputed the 300% figure cited by Martin.

The council will consider the planning-commission recommendations and potential council changes at the scheduled work session next month.