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Echo Hill South is a residential cluster development in Amherst, Massachusetts. This was the first use of cluster zoning in Massachusetts The subdivision was created as a planned unit development under the then current zoning by-laws of the town incorporating single family homes, townhouse apartments, an athletic club, and some commercial business. A total of 102 units were developed with an average lot size of 12,189 sq. ft. in an area where the zoning called for half acre lots (21,780 sq. ft.). Almost half the land (36 acres) was preserved as wooded buffers between developed portions or as open space. The open space consists primarily of a large field and two ponds. Common land is held by the Echo Hill South Association, Inc. The association was created to implement the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions set out by the developer, William Aubin.

The subdivision plan was approved by the Amherst Planning Board on 4 May 1966 and recorded at the Hampshire Registry of Deeds on 10 May 1966. Changes to the subdivision plan were approved on 11 January 1967, 6 November 1968 and 3 September 1969. Plans for the courts or blocks of townhouses were submitted on 2 August 1971 for Emerson Court and on 24 August 1973 for Webster, Chadwick, Sutton, Bedford, and Eaton Courts.

A major concern of the Board of Directors is the maintenance of the storm-water management system that incorporates the two ponds, their outflow, and the down-stream ravine. Over the years these ponds have been filling with silt and sand from the surrounding roads. As permits were obtained in 2004, a resident petitioned the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to re-certify the ponds as vernal pools. The re-certification was granted on 5 May 2005 stopping all maintenance. Negotiations are ongoing to reverse this certification.

Official website

Digital Amherst