Northampton’s Department of Public Works has received revised stormwater permit plans and drainage report from Three County Fairgrounds. The Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board will hold hearings on proposals from the Fairgrounds on October 28, starting at 5:30pm in City Council Chambers. Former Ward 3 City Councilor Maria Tymoczko, who abuts the Fairgrounds, recently filed suit in Land Court, arguing the proposals require a special permit, and not just site-plan approval. The latter are harder to appeal. Click for the text of her legal complaint.
See also:
Gazette: “Neighbor sues over fairgrounds project” (10/26/10)
The lawsuit draws particular attention to a July 14 email from Charles Bowles, a member of the board of directors of the Three County Fairgrounds Redevelopment Corp., to Suzanne Beck, the organization’s clerk and executive director of the Northampton Chamber of Commerce.
“As far as the Planning Board process is concerned, I talked with (Northampton lawyer) Ed Etheredge today about the appeal issue,” Bowles wrote. “His take on it was, if we go for site plan approval and it is appealed we can proceed at our own peril. But if we go for special permit and it is appealed we are dead in the water.”
Gazette: “Fairgrounds work raises a few concerns” (10/14/10)
Video: Three County Fairgrounds Update, October 13, 2010
Video: MEPA Visit to Three County Fairgrounds, 11/30/09
Video: Conservation Commission, 11/12/09: Three County Fairgrounds
Video: Presentation of Three County Fairgrounds Master Plan (7/25/08)