AMHERST — The Local Historic District Commission is proposing a scaled-back Local Historic District for East Amherst that includes 21 homes and other buildings dating to the 18th and 19th centuries, and the village green between East and South East streets.

Responding to a negative vote in April by the Planning Board for a new Local Historic District that would have encompassed 55 properties, mostly along lower Main Street, the commission on June 8 voted unanimously in favor of a more limited district, with specific properties named rather than a district created via boundaries.

While the proposed district still includes the 740 and 742 Main St. properties that make up the Jewish Community of Amherst, and were once the Second Congregational Church, and the 6 South East St. Hubbard House/ Baggs Tavern where part of the Daniel Shays’s Rebellion was planned, the commission removed a number of homes and properties that are not historic.

Put together by commission member Steve Bloom, the list is of homes and other buildings that could be demolished, with the district creating an impediment to future development.

Bloom said he’s concerned that if the commission doesn’t limt the scope, the district won’t be approved by the Town Council, even though he argues that, for Amherst, “history is our brand.”

“It’s an uphill battle,” Bloom said, observing there are pro-development attitudes on the Town Council. “I think we get this passed because this is a compromise and that’s how our system of government is supposed to work.”

The Community Resources Committee and the Planning Board are likely to review before Town Council acts, possibly in late summer or early fall.

The Planning Board was concerned with a number of the properties, many of which are student rentals, already falling disrepair and that the new Amethyst Brook School is nearby many of these.

The town has two such districts, one centered on the Emily Dickinson Museum on Main Street, established in 2012, and the other encompassing the North Prospect-Lincoln-Sunset neighborhoods, established in 2017. The commission can review exterior alterations and any changes viewed from the street, accepting or denying these changes.

On Bloom’s list of properties, only the 650 Main St. building, the George H. Prince House that dates to1865, was removed. That building has been a dentist office and its appearance has changed significantly over the years.

But the list will include 76 North East St., the Daniel Kellogg House that was built around 1758 even though the owners have reservations about restrictions that could be imposed.

Also included will be the 1782 Ebenezer Mattoon House, at 58 North East St., the Jonathan Hubbard House at 30 North East St., dating to around 1812, and the 38 South East St., Nathan Perkins House, built in 1842.

The vote also includes the village green, which commission member Elizabeth Sharpe said is a defining element.

“It’s central to this whole local historic district, it’s the centerpiece and it has to remain,” Sharpe said.

The board has been discussing the new district for several months and previously worked with Chris Skelly of Skelly Preservation Services, who documented the historical properties.