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Kohl Construction Applies for Special Permit and Site Plan Review

Bridge Street School in Peril

Landfill Alternatives Forum

Notre Dame Northampton Urban Design Charrette: Videos, Pictures, Handouts and Commentary

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The North Street Neighborhood Association (NSNA) is a community organization devoted to maintaining the quality of life in the North Street area of Northampton, Massachusetts. Our current priority is to preserve the size and quality of the woods between North Street and the bike trail, one of the few substantial stands of trees remaining in downtown Northampton.


These woods surround and buffer wetlands and Millyard Brook. A distinctive and beautiful feature of our neighborhood, the trees cool the air, moderate sound from I-91 and King Street, smell great, absorb water, and provide a habitat for deer and small animals of all kinds. Learn more about the many benefits of urban forests and wetlands.

Kohl Construction of Hadley proposes to build 25 condo units with new roads and parking spaces on 5.59 acres of land that includes a substantial portion of these woods. See Kohl's latest plans. This project is out of character with the detached one- to three-family homes that make up the neighborhood, and we are concerned it would pave over large amounts of scarce downtown greenspace, increase the risk of local flooding, and increase the parking and traffic loads on an already busy North Street and the side streets that lead from it.

Here are key articles relating to the proposed development:

Kohl Construction Applies for Special Permit and Site Plan Review

State Offers Funds to Help Conserve North Street Woods

Northampton Residents Sue Developer Douglas Kohl to Resolve Questions of Title and Rights-of-Way

News Coverage of Lawsuit vs. Kohl Construction

Vernal Pool Assessment Protocol for Wetlands Off North Street

Tropical Storm Floyd Flood Damage Report (1999)

Conservation Commission Approves LEC Vernal Pool Assessment; No Pools To Be Certified

Lot map of area

Photo Essay: Our Woods in Fall

Photo Essay: Arbor Day and the North Street Woods

Northampton Redoubt: Videos and photographs of a walking tour of North Street Northampton's Mill Yard Brook and vernal pools

Photo Essay: 10 Reasons People Like Trees Around Them; Will the Sustainable Northampton Plan Put Urban Trees at Risk?

Photo Essay: Millyard Brook Swells with Water in Winter

Photo Essay: Our Woods in Winter

Photo Essay: The Forest Behind View Avenue

Maps and Plans of View Avenue

1913 Plan of Land: Estate of Mrs. Caroline M. Roberts

To contact NSNA, please email info@northassoc.org.

• Announcements (12)
• Best Practices (22)
• Bridge Street School (19)
• Events (36)
• Health (6)
• Housing Market (53)
• Infill (133)
• Kohl Construction Plans (46)
• Literature of Nature (5)
• Maps (9)
• Neighborhood Character (118)
• Neighborhood News (40)
• Northampton Design Forum (23)
• NSNA in the News (17)
• Opinion (48)
• Ordinances and Regulations (143)
• Trees (61)
• Videos (35)
• Wetlands (115)
• What You Can Do (80)

NSNA supports Northampton's efforts to discourage unmanaged sprawl. However, compact growth must not come at the expense of urban quality of life. It must be carefully managed to avoid disruptive changes to neighborhoods, surges in property taxes, crime, congestion, loss of greenspace, noise and pollution.

Smart Growth vs. "Smart Growth"

Valley Advocate Critiques Sustainable Northampton Plan

Rutherford Platt, "The Humane Micropolis" - Full Text

Today's Urban Planning Debates Echoed in Northampton's Near Past

Condo Monotony: The Future of Ward 3?

Final Sustainable Northampton Plan Now Ready to View

Planning Board Adopts Sustainable Northampton Plan

The New Draft Sustainable Northampton Plan: Balancing Compact Growth Against Taxes, Urban Greenspace, Homeowner Preferences

Our Column in Today's Gazette: The Hidden Risks of 'Smart Growth'

The Notre Dame Northampton Charrette - Website Launches

Notre Dame Pitches Urban Design Studio to Northampton

Video: Notre Dame Urban Design Studio Presentation

Portland: A Photo Tour of Spiraling Densification

Portland, Oregon Voters Sour on Densification Over Time

Portland Suburb Successfully Staves Off Densification

Vancouver Sun: "Call it EcoDensity or EcoCity --either way it's a hard sell"

LA Weekly: "City Hall's 'Density Hawks' Are Changing L.A.'s DNA

Scrape-Off Redevelopments Provoke Backlash in Denver Neighborhoods

Halle-Neustadt: A Case Study in Compact, Transit-Oriented Development

USA Today: "Push for urban parkland takes root"

U.S. News to Retirees: Choose a locale with plenty of greenspace

Greening Smart Growth: The Sustainable Sites Initiative

Rutherford Platt, "Regreening the Metropolis: Pathways to More Ecological Cities"

The Ecological Cities Project: Greenspace in "The Humane Metropolis"

Terrain.org: "Cultivating Natural and Cultural Landscapes through Conservation Subdivision Design"

MA Secy of Energy and Environmental Affairs: Urban Parks Deserve Protection as do Habitat Reserves and Working Landscapes

Smart Growth and Crime

Downtown house on "dead end street" in "rural setting" flies off market

Financial Incentives Distort Smart Growth Debates

Smart Growth Winners (Rich People) and Losers (Other People)

"Sprawl and Congestion—is Light Rail and Transit-Oriented Development the Answer?"

Energy-Efficient Personal Vehicles of the Near Future

NY Times Magazine: "The Autonomist Manifesto (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Road)"

Smart Growth: When Polls and Reality Diverge

Seeing Like a State: Planning Gone Awry in the 20th Century

Randal O'Toole: "The Folly of 'Smart Growth'"

Smart Growth with Balance: The American Planning Association

Energy Intensity Less in Single-Family Homes Than High-Rises

UMass Press: "Natural Land: Preserving and Funding Open Space"

Wendell Cox: "METROPOLITAN DENVER AT RISK: How Densification Will Intensify Traffic Congestion, Air Pollution and the Housing Affordability Crisis"

Suburban 'Raise the Drawbridge' Sentiment Motivates Some Smart Growth Policies

Smart Growth Hazard: A Confining Sameness

Metro Portland's Long Experience with Smart Growth: A Cautionary Tale

New York Times: "Vibrant Cities Find One Thing Missing: Children"

Berkeley, California: Cautions on Infill

Tailoring Infill and the New Urbanism to Northampton

The Atlantic Monthly: "A Good Place to Live"

Grasping the Sustainable Northampton Vision: We Need Pictures

Pictures of Northampton Streets at Various Densities

Gazette: "'Brownfields' law altering landscape"

Syd Gernstein: "Brownfields Revitalization Cuts Urban Blight, Suburban Sprawl"

Natick Hailed as Example of How to Do Smart Growth Well

New York Times: The Green Alleys of Chicago

Large Lots Gobble Up Land in Massachusetts

The Sustainability Plan: Infill, Forests, Wetlands and Whom to Email

Sustainable Northampton: An Open Letter to the Cecil Group

Gazette Guest Column: "Give residents a role in city issues"

These articles discuss aspects of Northampton's new Wetlands Ordinance, enacted by City Council on 10/4/07. This ordinance allows developers to encroach as close as 10 feet to wetlands in our more built-up areas. We are concerned that buffers this narrow are inadequate to protect the health of wetlands, avoid water pollution, or mitigate flooding. They also represent a loss of urban greenspace that keeps our neighborhoods attractive and cool.

Comparing the New Hazards Mitigation Plan to the Old One: Wetlands Protection Weakened

Hyla Report: Northampton Wetlands Buffers at Narrow End of Massachusetts Spectrum

City Council Enacts New Wetlands Ordinance, Including 10-Foot Buffers

Just Released: Planner's Guide to Wetland Buffers for Local Governments

Model Ordinance Provisions for Conservation Subdivision Design: Give Wetlands Their Space

Paved Surfaces, Salt and Water Bodies: A Bad Mix

Snow and Slush Expose Limits of Storm Drains

Easthampton Flooding Hazard: Snow-Clogged Storm Drains

Gazette: "Region's storms going to extremes, report finds"

Gazette editorial: "Protecting the environment"

Gazette: "Should developers police own projects?"

Northampton Circulates Revised Wetlands Ordinance Ahead of October 4 Vote

Two Articles on Wetlands in the Valley Advocate

Our Response to Suzanne Beck's Letter to the Gazette

Our Response to Jim Levey's Letter to the Gazette

How to Amend the Wetlands Ordinance to Make It Less Harmful to Wards 1-4

Breaking News: Council Approves New Wetlands Ordinance 7-2 on First Reading

Hyla Ecological Services Analyzes the Proposed Wetlands Ordinance

Millions of Dollars of Property Outside the Official Floodplain Vulnerable to Localized Flooding

Greenfield's Quarter-Million-Dollar Flooding Fix Includes Razing a 4-Family House

Where We Stand on Wetlands: A Review of the Issues

The proposed ordinance is not consistent with past practice, and favors substantial new encroachments on Northampton's wetlands

Is the Proposed Wetlands Ordinance Similar to Current Buffer Zone Policy? Judge for Yourself

The Wetlands Policy Lawsuit that City Officials Are Afraid Of

Flooding is already affecting Northampton's built-up areas during major storms. Weakening wetlands buffer zone requirements downtown will make this worse

EPA: Threats to Wetlands

EPA: Wetlands and Flood Protection

The Economic Value of Wetlands: Wetlands’ Role in Flood Protection in Western Washington

Northampton's Flood and Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan: Wetlands Buffers of 100 Feet Are an Effective Flood Mitigation Strategy and Should Be Consistently Enforced

Northampton Open Space Plan: "This loss of habitat and natural flood buffering areas is Northampton’s most serious environmental problem"

Flooding Incidents in the North Street Neighborhood: 2003-2007

Springfield Wetland Regulations: "A minimum of a fifty (50) foot undisturbed buffer"

Carlon Drive: Compensatory Wetland Not Working

Photos Show: Man-Made Lakes and Stormwater Retention Systems Are No Substitute for Natural Wetlands

EPA: "Mosquito proliferation in stormwater ponds is a concern"

Detention Pools, Children and Drowning

Contact Mayor Clare Higgins

Contact your Northampton City Councilor

Write a letter to the Daily Hampshire Gazette

Write a letter to The Republican

Request a free NorthAssoc.org yard sign

Here are additional links of interest to residents of Ward 3. NSNA does not necessarily endorse the positions taken by these organizations.

Northampton Education Action Team Online

Northampton Blight

Friends of Northampton Trails and Greenways

NoPornNorthampton

Paradise City Forum on I-91 Exit 19

Ward 3 Neighborhood Association

Citizens United for a Healthy Future (opposes Ward 6 landfill expansion)

Sign up for our email bulletins!

3/13/08: Northampton Residents Sue Developer Douglas Kohl to Resolve Questions of Title and Rights-of-Way

9/28/07: Northampton, MA Citizens Campaign to Protect Their Urban Wetlands, Prevent Flooding; 16,978 Postcards Mailed to Voters

8/2/07: Petition Drive to Save Trees and Wetlands in Northampton, Massachusetts

Maps Showing Area Slated for Development

June 2007: Pictures of Kohl Construction's Condo Plans

June 2007: Kohl Construction's Wetlands Application

June 2007: Kohl Construction's Wetlands Request for Determination of Applicability

Plan of Land: Estate of Mrs. Caroline M. Roberts

Maps: Millyard Brook and Surrounding Wetlands a Longstanding Feature of Ward 3

Conservation Commission Minutes 2001

Conservation Commission Minutes 2002

Conservation Commission Minutes 2003

Conservation Commission Minutes 2004

Conservation Commission Minutes 2005

Conservation Commission Minutes 2006

Conservation Commission Minutes 2007

Conservation Commission Minutes 2008

Use this Custom Search Engine to search the City of Northampton website, courtesy of Paolo Mastrangelo.

• Northampton Mayor
• Northampton City Council
• Northampton Ordinance Cmte
• Northampton Tree Cmte
• Northampton Municipal Code
• MassDEP Protecting Wetlands
• Massachusetts Wetlands Laws
• Massachusetts Tree Ordinances
• Hampshire Council of Governments
• Daily Hampshire Gazette
• Springfield Republican
• Valley Advocate
• Urban Compass
• Paradise City Forum
• Downstreet.net
• Broad Brook Coalition
• Northampton Historic Photos
• Downtown Northampton Webcam
• Pioneer Valley BlogNetNews
• Northampton Media Blog
• Kirby on the Loose
• Northampton Redoubt

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