Here is a complete audio recording of the meeting of Northampton’s Zoning Revisions Committee on May 6. It’s 2 hours and 6 minutes long (MP3 file, 57MB). Thanks to Owen Freeman-Daniels and Jim Nash for facilitating this recording. Here is the meeting agenda: Zoning Revisions Committee Meeting May 6 Agenda 1st Floor Memorial Hall (old […]
Infill
Our Ad in Today’s Gazette: “How to Avoid Classic Infill Design Mistakes”
Our ad in today’s Gazette (5/6/09) describes how Kohl Construction’s proposed condo development off North Street would commit a number of classic urban infill design mistakes. Download this ad as a high-resolution PDF (432 KB). Concerned citizens are urged to attend Conservation Commission and Planning Board hearings on this proposal on May 14 (see flyer, […]
Gazette: “Health, fiscal woes seed local vegetable gardens”; Freeman Dyson Sees Future Gold in Green
Today’s Gazette reports that vegetable gardens are even more popular than last year, a good reason not to infill away our urban greenspaces: An estimated 37 percent of all United States households, or about 43 million, plan to grow vegetables, fruit, berries or herbs in 2009, according to the Vermont-based National Gardening Association. That’s up […]
May 6: Zoning Revisions Committee to Discuss Sustainability Plan, Community Involvement
We encourage citizens to attend this meeting on the implementation of the Sustainable Northampton Plan: Zoning Revisions Committee Meeting May 6 Agenda 1st Floor Memorial Hall (old COA space) (enter at side door facing Unitarian Society bldg) 7:00 PM 1. Public comment 2. Discussion with Chris Mason, Northampton energy officer, about green community initiatives3. Discuss […]
Toronto Urban Design Guidelines: Infill Townhouses
The City of Toronto has compiled design guidelines specifically for infill townhouses (PDF, 34 pages). Let’s explore these guidelines and draw contrasts with the Kohl condo proposal for North Street. We have emphasized certain passages in red. Toronto Urban Design Guidelines:Infill Townhouses January 2003 Page 4: As with any type of infill development, however, it […]
Portland Infill Design Strategies: Best Practices for Context-Sensitive Infill Design
Portland, Oregon has long experience with Smart Growth tracing back to the 1970s. While we’ve been critical of many of the ways Smart Growth has been applied there, the city has amassed a valuable body of knowledge about infill techniques that are relatively gentle on existing neighborhoods. Here are selections from “Infill Design Strategies: Best […]
Wall Street Journal: “How Group Decisions End Up Wrong-Footed”
A 4/25/09 Wall Street Journal article has insights into getting good decisions from groups. It resonates with the goals of the Best Practices Committee. How Group Decisions End Up Wrong-Footed For committees and other boards to work well, they must be made up of people with differing perspectives and experience who are unafraid to speak […]
Flyer for May 14 Hearings; Get Your Free Yard Sign
Please encourage your friends and neighbors to attend the May 14 hearings on the latest Kohl condo proposal. Download our flyer (PDF, 394 KB) and pass it around freely. The flyer includes a review of our major objections to the proposal. Request a free yard sign from info@northassoc.org. We’ll let you know where to pick […]
Knoxville Infill Housing Design Guidelines: Lessons from Experience
As the Zoning Revisions Committee gears up to implement the vision of the Sustainable Northampton Plan, there are useful lessons to be drawn from other cities that have traveled the infill path. Today, let’s look inside the Heart of Knoxville Infill Housing Design Guidelines (PDF, 2.4MB). We highlight several passages that have a particular bearing […]
Impervious Surface: New Condo Proposal Differs Little from Previous One
Jono Neiger and Sebastian Gutwein from the Regenerative Design Group have prepared these charts that compare impervious surface in Kohl Construction’s previous and current North Street condo proposals. Neiger serves on the faculty of the Conway School of Landscape Design, Graduate Program in Sustainable Landscape Planning & Design. To our eyes, Kohl’s new proposal (see […]