Here is our ad as it appears on page 3 of the A section in today's Daily Hampshire Gazette (download a high-resolution PDF). This ad summarizes many of our key objections to the Kohl condo proposal for North Street. The text is reproduced below the ad image with links added so you can explore the issues in more detail.

Kohl Construction, operating as Tofino Associates and Northern Avenue Homes, proposes to build 25 condo units plus roads in the woods, grassy areas, and wetlands buffer zone between North Street and the new bike trail in Northampton. Many large trees would get the axe. An existing century-old house at the end of View Avenue would be demolished. Within the wetlands lies Millyard Brook, a stream that flows nearly year-round. The North Street Neighborhood Association opposes this development for several reasons.

Environmental Quality

Wetlands need adequate buffer zones to keep human disturbance and pollution out. Most local wetlands ordinances in Massachusetts specify no-disturb zones of at least 25-50 feet. Kohl, however, originally proposed to place grading, walls, yards, patios, and certain components of its stormwater management system as close as 12 feet to the wetland, plus a new road encroaching to within 35 feet. Despite Conservation Commission objections at a December 11 hearing, Kohl’s latest proposal is not much different.

Studies find that buffers of less than 50 feet are generally ineffective in protecting wetlands. In one study in Washington state, no buffers of 25 feet or less were functioning to reduce disturbance to the adjacent wetland. For the past several decades, the Connecticut River has been getting more and more salty. Runoff from paved surfaces near wetlands and water bodies is a major culprit. Indeed, the Connecticut River Strategic Plan supports the removal of impervious surfaces within 50 feet of streams (Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, 2003).

Health and Safety

When you build housing close to a wetland, you risk exposing residents to water-related problems. An example is the possibility of mold and moisture intruding into residences via utility ducts, basement walls and cracked foundation slabs.

In Northampton, homes built near wetlands include several on Winslow, Nutting and Elm Streets. Former City Councilor Alex Ghiselin reports that water-related issues were “the knottiest, the most difficult problems that we dealt with… Once the houses are built there’s really no good solution… The developers are long gone.” One couple on Winslow spent over $8,000 in 2007 to move water around their house. ^[1]

After Tropical Storm Floyd (1999), flood damage was reported at the end of View Avenue. This area is one of the more elevated portions of Kohl’s property. We infer that much of the property may be at risk of flooding.

Smart Growth vs. “Smart Growth”

Some claim that because Kohl’s proposed condos are within walking distance of downtown and have a high density, they are a good example of Smart Growth. However, there’s more to it than that, according to the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

True Smart Growth respects green infrastructure, such as trees and wetlands. These greenspaces filter the air, reduce the urban heat island effect, enhance property values and moderate stormwater flows, and they do it inexpensively. Urban greenspace is associated with improved physical and mental health and greater social cohesion in neighborhoods.

True Smart Growth preserves a community’s character, unlike development that “bears little relationship to a community’s history, culture, or geography.” ULI says homebuyers are increasingly attracted to vernacular and historical house styles that characterize their immediate area or region. Quoting Jim Constantine, a market specialist who does “curb appeal” surveys for developers, “Consumers are turned off by cookie-cutter subdivisions and the homogenous look of houses.” Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Kohl Construction is offering the neighborhood.

Proposed Kohl condo designs

Developers must not be allowed to cherry-pick aspects of Smart Growth that suit their profit goals and ignore the rest. If Northampton wants to reduce sprawl and attract residents to its already built-up areas, it must keep these areas safe and preserve the greenspace and visual appeal that grace its traditional neighborhoods. Learn more at www.northassoc.org.

Here are the January 22 public hearings that will consider Kohl's revised proposal. Please come!

CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING
Date: Thursday January 22, 2009
Time: 5:30 PM
Place: City Hall Hearing Room (use back door or main Crafts Avenue door) 2nd floor, 210 Main Street, Northampton

For more information: Bruce W. Young, Land Use and Conservation Planner byoung@northamptonma.gov

Agenda

Approval of Minutes for 01/08/2009

5:30 PM
Continuation of a Notice of Intent filed by Jim Harrity on behalf of EBD Corp. for the construction of a mixed use building, associated parking areas, driveways, sidewalks, utilities, landscaping and stormwater management system. Project is proposed to take place in the 100-foot buffer zone of Bordering Vegetated Wetlands. Project location is 225 Nonotuck Street, Map Id 23A-281.

6:00 PM
Continuation of a Notice of Intent filed by Smith College for the relocation of a tennis court, creation of a synthetic playing field, and the paving of an existing gravel parking lot. Work is proposed to take place in Riverfront Area. Project location is College Lane at Smith College, Map Id 31C-15.

6:30 PM
Continuation of a Notice of Intent filed by Tofino Associates, Inc. and Northern Avenue Homes, Inc. for the construction of twenty-five dwelling units and associated roadways, parking areas, driveways, sidewalks, utilities, landscaping and stormwater management system. Project is proposed to take place in the 100-foot buffer zone of Bordering Vegetated Wetlands. Project location is Northern Avenue, Map Id 25C-12 and 25C-17.


PLANNING BOARD MEETING
FOR Thursday January 22, 2009

THE PLANNING BOARD meets at 7:00 P.M. in Council Chambers, Puchalski Municipal Building, 212 Main Street, Northampton, MA:

7:00 P.M. Informal discussion with Mass Development on Planned Village changes

7:45 P.M. Continuation (from January 8) of a hearing on the request by EBD Corp for site plan approval at 225 Nonotuck St, Florence

8:00 P.M. Continuation of a hearing on the request by Tofino Associates/Northern Ave. Homes for a special permit to construct a 25-unit Townhouse project with associated site plan including driveway access from North and Northern Ave at 8 View Ave, Northampton, Map ID 25C-12 & 17.

See also:

Gazette: "Housing slump for some, but not all" (2/16/09)
[Contrasting an unsold house at 310 Old Wilson Road with a house that just sold at 88 Sylvester Road:]
...So how does it happen that one house drops its price by 18 percent, and remains unsold, while another sells quickly for 6 percent above its asking price?

...The second house "has a certain character," said [Larry] Miller [of the Jones Group]. "It's a house you can't find over again. The one on Old Wilson Road, in some variety you can find it over and over..."

Boston Globe: "How the city hurts your brain" (1/2/09)
...scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control...

One of the main forces at work is a stark lack of nature, which is surprisingly beneficial for the brain. Studies have demonstrated, for instance, that hospital patients recover more quickly when they can see trees from their windows, and that women living in public housing are better able to focus when their apartment overlooks a grassy courtyard. Even these fleeting glimpses of nature improve brain performance, it seems, because they provide a mental break from the urban roil...

A city is so overstuffed with stimuli that we need to constantly redirect our attention so that we aren't distracted by irrelevant things, like a flashing neon sign...

Natural settings, in contrast, don't require the same amount of cognitive effort...

Natural settings are full of objects that automatically capture our attention, yet without triggering a negative emotional response -- unlike, say, a backfiring car. The mental machinery that directs attention can relax deeply, replenishing itself...

City life can also lead to loss of emotional control. Kuo and her colleagues found less domestic violence in the apartments with views of greenery. These data build on earlier work that demonstrated how aspects of the urban environment, such as crowding and unpredictable noise, can also lead to increased levels of aggression. A tired brain, run down by the stimuli of city life, is more likely to lose its temper...

While people have searched high and low for ways to improve cognitive performance, from doping themselves with Red Bull to redesigning the layout of offices, it appears that few of these treatments are as effective as simply taking a walk in a natural place...

WATERSHEDSS: Major Causes of Wetland Loss and Degradation
Urbanization is a major cause of impairment of wetlands (USEPA 1994b). Urbanization has resulted in direct loss of wetland acreage as well as degradation of wetlands. Degradation is due to changes in water quality, quantity, and flow rates; increases in pollutant inputs; and changes in species composition as a result of introduction of non-native species and disturbance. The major pollutants associated with urbanization are sediment, nutrients, oxygen-demanding substances, road salts, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, bacteria, and viruses (USEPA 1994b). These pollutants may enter wetlands from point sources or from nonpoint sources. Construction activities are a major source of suspended sediments that enter wetlands through urban runoff.

Paved Surfaces, Salt and Water Bodies: A Bad Mix

Gazette: "Salt suspected in Southampton well contamination"
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Web site, salt is a cheap and effective solution to ice-covered roads that can be a problem for drinking water systems as runoff affects local soil quality, groundwater and surface water supplies...

Northampton's Flood and Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan: Wetlands Buffers of 100 Feet Are an Effective Flood Mitigation Strategy and Should Be Consistently Enforced
In general, a core problem for infill in Northampton is to avoid placing large numbers of people and structures in low-lying areas downtown that may be at risk for flooding. As the plan states, "In recent years, heavy rainstorms have caused significant problems in more urbanized areas as increased development inhibits proper drainage and existing or poorly maintained water systems cannot handle increased stormwater runoff."

"Innovative Non-Zoning Approaches to Encourage Smart Growth and Protect Public Health" - Video with Wayne Feiden and Bruce Young
1:03:00... Young: "We have some serious challenges ahead of us. And one is... 'HIGs', holes in the ground. And so, what we're saying is, we want good infill development, but through our Wetlands Ordinance we didn't really adopt stormwater standards that would improve the stormwater in these infill areas. So we have a challenge to come up with better design standards for stormwater instead of these giant holes in the ground, and to actually require or implement some, or incentivize some low-impact development type of stormwater systems. And then...the second thing that goes with stormwater systems is maintenance... We're working with the Department of Public Works that now has a stormwater manager and we're setting up maintenance for these systems, but some of these are older systems and some of these have been approved under a system that didn't have basically [what's modern] for these types of systems..."