AMHERST - While rezoning village centers for the purpose of encouraging denser residential development is an idea contained in the town's master plan, many Amherst residents are suggesting that any changes be made in a more deliberate manner.

At the semi-annual forum of the Zoning Subcommittee Wednesday, residents had the opportunity to express priorities for amendments to the town's zoning. Much of the focus centered on how to move forward with rezoning proposals for the North Amherst and Atkins Corner village centers without creating significant impact from new off-campus student rental properties.

Chairman Jonathan O'Keeffe said his subcommittee has already determined that the primary objective for spring Town Meeting remains this rezoning.

The first efforts at rezoning using form-based code, creating consistent streetscapes and promoting density in the village centers, failed to get the needed two-thirds majority vote at fall Town Meeting.

"We're conscious of trying to limit our queue of items for the spring so as not to spread ourselves too thin," O'Keeffe said.

Janet Keller of Pulpit Hill Road suggested separating the rezoning into three parts, by first rezoning the so-called W.D. Cowls triangle in North Amherst center, bounded by Cowls, Sunderland and Montague roads, and then rezoning the Atkins Corner village. Once these are done, the form-based overlay could be considered.

Keller said she would like to see the rezoning encourage high-quality development so that the village centers are not just places through which people drive.

This step-by-step, more modest approach, was also recommended by Maurianne Adams of Beston Street. Adams said many residential streets should not be rezoned, and the focus should be placed more specifically on village center and downtown business districts.

Pat Holland and Valerie Cooley, who both live on Montague Road, agreed with the idea of separating any use-based zoning changes from the form-based zoning changes.

Holland said she recently visited Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where form-based code was focused on the downtown commercial areas and its edges where office buildings transition to houses. She's not sure such form-based code could be applied to North Amherst.

"It has no relevance to a small place like North Amherst," Holland said.

Cooley said form-based code might also add an unfair burden to property owners to meet various stipulations.

Those who have supported the rezoning of the village centers told the subcommittee that promoting so-called infill development and providing places where students can have quality housing are important ideas.

Niels la Cour of North Whitney Street said off-campus rentals are a concern for every neighborhood because zoning has not kept up with demand over last 40 years. He said the town's zoning laws have been anti-density and discouraged construction of student, elderly and multi-family housing.

"We really haven't built much of that type of housing stock in 40 years," la Cour said. He said he has seen maps indicating most development in recent decades has been sprawl in outlying areas.

Form-based code, la Cour added, will be good for neighborhoods. "It provides another whole level of regulation that protects neighbors against some of the issues they are concerned about," la Cour said.

Andy Churchill of Pine Street said the town needs to make progress toward taxable development to keep the tax rate reasonable, continue to provide services and to protect open space. He argued that residents can't have a "one-sided aversion" to student housing.

"If education is our big industry, and if it is part of our identity, it's low-hanging fruit in terms of taxable development that can bring revenue to the town and support services," Churchill said.

He suggested town officials might look for places close to the University of Massachusetts for this purpose.

Louis Greenbaum of Montague Road said he's not aware of a crisis situation caused by a burgeoning student body. He pointed to the development of the Commonwealth College campus at UMass that will house most of its students on the campus.

Several residents suggested adopting other regulations to better control off-campus rentals. Some of these could be done without zoning changes, such as requiring landlords to notify the town of housing units and parking areas they make available to students.

The Zoning Subcommittee will meet again Jan. 18 for a roundtable discussion focused specifically on those neighborhoods.