Japanese Knotweed and Multiflora Rose: Is Herbicide the Answer?

In an effort to earn ‘extraordinary mitigation’ points and justify close encroachment to the wetlands off North Street, Kohl Construction proposes to apply herbicide in an effort to eradicate two invasive species on its property: Japanese knotweed and multiflora rose. Northampton Land Use and Conservation Planner Bruce Young says that if Kohl did this to […]

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Video: Board of Public Works Discusses Scope of Waste Management Alternatives Study at 1/21/09 Special Meeting

At 8am on January 21, Northampton’s Board of Public Works met to discuss a Waste Management Alternatives study proposed by HDR Engineering. Here is a Google video of the entire meeting. The video is 2 hours and 31 minutes long, and was recorded by Adam Cohen. You’ll notice some intermittent fan noise. We did our […]

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Gazette Column: “Keeping our schools small is worth a large effort”

Today’s Gazette includes a column from Greg Kerstetter (email), who teaches fifth grade at the R.K. Finn Ryan Road School in Northampton: Lesson Plan: Keeping our schools small is worth a large effort Here’s what the [Strategic Planning Commitee] could not agree on: whether to close an elementary school to save money… Members of the […]

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Video: Planning Board Meeting of January 22; Hospital Hill; Kohl Condo Proposal

Here are two Vimeo videos (part 1, 86 minutes; part 2, 112 minutes) of portions of the Planning Board meeting of January 22. These videos were recorded by Lachlan Ziegler. Part 1[We join the Planning Board just a minute or so into the start of their meeting] 0:00:00-0:59:59… Informal discussion with Mass Development on Planned […]

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February 4 and 12: Two Important Meetings about Northampton Schools

Today’s Gazette reports that the Northampton Education Action Team will host a public meeting on the budget crisis at J.F.K. Middle School on Wednesday, February 4, at 7:00pm. At the School Committee meeting of Thursday, February 12, the Strategic Planning Committee will present its final report. “That 25-member committee has spent the last several months […]

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February 26: A Traffic Calming Informational Discussion

The Ward 3 Neighborhood Association is circulating the following announcement from the Department of Public Works: On behalf of the Northampton DPW, I am pleased to invite you to “A Traffic Calming Informational Discussion” scheduled for February 26th, 2009 (Thursday @ 7:00 pm) in the JFK Middle School Community Room located at 100 Bridge Road. […]

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Video: Conservation Commission Meeting of 1/22/09; Non-Compliance with Wetlands Protection Agreements; Kohl Asked to Revise Condo Proposal Again

Here is a Google video of a large portion of the Conservation Commission meeting of January 22. This video is 3 hours and 7 minutes long, and was recorded by Adam Cohen. See portions of a Gazette article on this hearing, pictures of the Kohl condo proposal as reviewed, the conservation staff report and a […]

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Planning Commissioners Journal: “Managing Stormwater Runoff: A Green Infrastructure Approach”

This article from the Winter 2009 edition of Planning Commissioners Journal underscores the benefits of working with nature to manage stormwater: Managing Stormwater Runoff: A Green Infrastructure Approachby Lynn Richards, Acting Director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Development, Community, and Environment Division …Green infrastructure strategies reduce and manage stormwater through infiltration (water soaking into […]

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Northampton Redoubt: “Mr. Kunstler, is all infill good?”

Daryl LaFleur published the following interview with James Howard Kunstler on Northampton Redoubt this weekend. Kunstler is the author of The Geography of Nowhere, written “Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up […]

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Northampton Democratic Caucus Will Be Held on February 7

Michael Bardsley, one of the two At-Large City Councilors for Northampton, is circulating the following announcement. Download a PDF of the caucus flyer. …The Northampton Democratic Caucus will be held February 7th at the JFK Middle School. The meeting starts at 11:00 AM. You must be there by 11:30 AM to be able to vote […]

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