City Councilor David Narkewicz has kindly called our attention to the latest proposed design for the new police station (also downloadable as a PDF, 9.3MB):
The new police station will be discussed at two public hearings on Thursday:
Central Business Architecture Committee (CBAC)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
5:00 PM
Memorial Hall, 1st Floor (former Council on Aging offices)
240 Main Street, Northampton, MA 01060 (side entrance next to Unitarian Society)
The Central Business Architecture Committee (CBAC) will hold its formal design review of the proposed police station w/ parking deck to be built next to the existing Northampton Police Station at 23 Center Street. DOWNLOAD REVISED DESIGN SUBMITTED TO THE CBAC HERE [13MB PDF]. For more information, visit the Police Station Building Committee’s website at www.northamptonma.gov/psbc.
Planning Board
Thursday, September 25, 2008
8:00 PM (scheduled hearing time)
Council Chambers, Puchalski Municipal Building (behind City Hall)
212 Main Street Northampton, MA 01060
The Planning Board will consider a request for site plan approval for a new police station with parking deck at 23 Center Street and a special permit for a structure less than 30′ tall (parking deck). For more information — including a site plan of the facility — visit the Police Station Building Committee’s website at www.northamptonma.gov/psbc.
See also:
Gazette: “Northampton boards postpone decision on police station plans” (9/26/08)
“There are some variables that need to be nailed down specifically,” said David Murphy of the CBAC, who noted building materials, mortar color and lighting fixtures among the decisions that needed to be made before the committee could lend its approval to the plan….
…a design to construct a raised, blank wall along the site’s Center Street side met opposition from committee members who worried such a structure would seem out of place in the city’s downtown area. At its highest point, the wall would be 6 feet…
Committee members were also concerned that the parking garage plans lacked the quality of the rest of the design. In response, [police chief] Sienkiewicz noted the budgetary constraints of the project.
Police Station Building Committee
Revised Design for Northampton Police Station (9/18/08)
Video: Police Station Building Committee Presents Design (8/21/08)
Proposed Design for New Police Station Unveiled (8/20/08)
Northampton Police Department, Massachusetts: Needs Assessment & Facility Master Plan (PDF, 2005)