AMHERST — Construction of a three-unit, 10-bedroom home behind an existing home at 98 Fearing St., in the North Prospect-Lincoln-Sunset Local Historic District is inappropriate for the neighborhood, according to a panel that reviews projects and changes in in areas designated for preservation.

The Local Historic District Commission advised the architect, designer and attorney representing property owner B&P LLC of Belchertown, that the redevelopment plans for the site, which is close to the University of Massachusetts, are too intense. The commission took no vote Monday, continuing the hearing to June 3 at 3 p.m.

“Our job is to look at the mass and the scale and the relationship with the neighborhood and to protect the historic neighborhoods,” said commission member Greta Wilcox. “I don’t see this development doing that at all. I think it is out of scale.”

The new home would be seen from Lincoln and Cosby avenues and Paige Street, said Nancy Ratner, who chairs the commission.

“It’s out of scale with the neighborhood,” Ratner said. “It really would change the way this neighborhood looks, to suddenly have such a large piece of the backyard taken up with another structure.”

Commission member Karin Winter, too, said the historic neighborhood needs to be protected, no matter how nice a new building looks, and commission member Nicole Miller worried about giving the property a commercial feel, rather than maintaining the current residential feel.

Commission member Steve Bloom said a proposed large parking lot between the existing home and the new building might also be inappropriate for the neighborhood.

The existing home was built in 1927, developed as a two-family residence and had become a three-family home when B&P bought it for $850,000 in 2021.

Charles Roberts of Kuhn Riddle Architects said the an original plan, developed in February 2023, had three duplexes with 24 bedrooms, and would have necessitated tearing down the existing detached garage to create more parking.

“We scaled this back,” Roberts said, observing that instead of three buildings, the latest plan is for one building, with the detached garage to be used for bike and trash storage. “We’ve reduced it considerably, from I think 24 beds down to 10 (beds).”

“Working to minimize the impact on the street and what is visible from the street works architecturally and in building form with what’s already there,” Roberts said.

Commission members praised the design, which shows the new building tucked behind and peeking out fromaround the existing home. Yet they found it too large, suggesting instead converting the garage for one bedroom, and possibly a small bump-out from the existing home for another bedroom.

Feedback from residents was also negative to the idea of the large in-fill development.

“It will absolutely change the tenor of our experience of the neighborhood,” said Melissa Farris of Lincoln Avenue.

“This will totally change the neighborhood,” said Rodger Mattlage of Cosby Avenue.

Tom Reidy, an attorney with Bacon Wilson PC of Amherst, said designers will go back to the drawing board to try to answer the commission’s objections.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.