Northampton’s Planning Board took 30 minutes on May 8 to discuss issues with the implementation of a parking and traffic plan worked out last year for the soccer fields at the Oxbow. The board seeks heavier usage of an auxiliary parking lot to reduce traffic on Island Road. Here is a video of the discussion:
The Gazette reported on the matter in two articles this week:
Board presses carpooling to Oxbow soccer fields (5/9/08)
…On Thursday, Planning Board members said the two soccer organizations that use the fields at the Oxbow Marina – Northampton Soccer Club and Western United Football Club – must make a better effort to reduce traffic along Island Road. Their recommendation to Building Commissioner Anthony Patillo states that 50 percent of all cars must be parked at auxiliary lot and that members from both organizations need to take responsibility in accomplishing the task.
According to the recommendation, the Planning Board expects full compliance from both organizations within a month. If they are not fully compliant in that time frame, the special permit granted last summer by the board could be withdrawn…
Soccer at Oxbow hits snag (5/8/08)
…One of the conditions set by the Planning Board when it approved a three-year special permit last July calls for the soccer leagues that use the fields at the end of Island Road to reduce traffic on the residential street. Representatives of Western United Soccer and Northampton Soccer Club were told to reduce traffic by carpooling and shuttling families from a parking area on Route 5 to the fields…