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Council designates Rutledge Apartments revitalization area to unlock state renovation funds
Summary
Amherst council approved a resolution to designate 122 Dolwich Drive (the Rutledge Apartments) as a revitalization area, allowing Community Housing Partners to pursue state funding for renovations; staff and a housing representative said residents will be relocated on-site during work and can return to rehabilitated units.
The Amherst Town Council voted to designate 122 Dolwich Drive, home to the Rutledge Apartments, as a revitalization area so Community Housing Partners can pursue state funds for unit renovations. Staff said the apartment exterior appears well maintained but interior units need substantial work.
Town staff introduced the resolution and said the complex, a low-income housing community last renovated in 2008, would be eligible for state assistance to support needed upgrades. Samantha Brown, introduced by staff as representing Community Housing Partners, told council that residents would not be displaced off-site. "They won't be staying in their actual units, but they will be staying on property," Brown said, explaining the project uses on-site "hotel" units to temporarily house residents while their units are renovated; tenants would return to their original unit or another rehabilitated unit when work is complete.
A public commenter, Angela Sundar Murphy, urged council to support renovations, saying she frequently visits inside the buildings and that some units "just need quite a bit of renovation." Staff recommended adoption of the resolution; council moved and seconded the measure and approved it by roll-call vote with all voting members recorded as "Aye." The mayor announced the motion carried.
Why it matters: designating the site as a revitalization area is a precondition for certain state funding programs that can underwrite rehabilitation work in older low-income housing. Council members said the renovations would help preserve long-term affordable units by updating aging interiors.
The council adopted the resolution at the meeting and recorded the roll-call approval; staff and Community Housing Partners will proceed with steps to pursue state funding and coordinate temporary on-site relocation for residents during renovations.
