We would like to share with you this open letter to Mayor Clare Higgins from Clark Avenue resident Ellen LaFleche. To All It Concerns, My husband works as an activities director at a local retirement community, and although our own retirement is more than a decade away, we spend lots of time talking about where […]
Infill
Envisioning Sustainable Northampton: Notre Dame Urban Design Presentation – Video and Handout
Here is a complete Google video of Envisioning Sustainable Northampton, the final presentation of The Notre Dame Northampton Charrette. This video is 2 hours and 33 minutes long, and may also be viewed at Vimeo video. You may download a PDF of the slides here. The video was recorded by Adam Cohen. [1/9/09 update: Northampton […]
More Detail on the Zero Lot Line Proposed Changes; Evaluating Infill Impacts
[Revised on 12/17/08] Carolyn Misch, Senior Land Use Planner in the Northampton planning department, has kindly provided us with more details about the proposed changes to the Zero Lot Line regulations. These details are reproduced below and may also be downloaded as a PDF, but first, here is explanatory text circulated by Ward 3 City […]
Applicants Sought for Zoning Revisions Committee
Northampton’s Office of Planning and Development is circulating the following announcement: The Planning Board is Seeking Applicants for the Northampton Zoning Revisions Committee What is the Zoning Revisions Committee? The Zoning Revisions Committee will assist the Northampton Planning Board in identifying, developing, and recommending zoning ordinances that serve to implement the Northampton Sustainability Plan. The […]
Envisioning Sustainable Northampton: Notre Dame Urban Design Presentation – Slides
Urban design students from Notre Dame University presented Envisioning Sustainable Northampton at Northampton High School yesterday. Below are selected slides from their presentation. Download all 97 slides (PDF, 16.9MB). We will make a video of the presentation available online within a few days. In the meantime, please visit The Notre Dame Northampton Charrette website for […]
Breaking News: Conservation Commission Wants Kohl to Leave 35-Foot Wetland Buffer Zone Alone for the Most Part
At tonight’s meeting of Northampton’s Conservation Commission, the sense of the Commission was that Kohl Construction should largely leave alone the 35-foot buffer zone around the wetland behind North Street. This is likely to require a substantial redesign of Kohl’s plans, which called for encroachment as close as 12 feet. The Commission did not take […]
Kohl Condo Planning Board Hearing Deferred to January; Conservation Commission Hearing Still on for December 11
Northampton’s Planning Board reports today that it will defer its hearing on Kohl Construction’s application for a Special Permit and Site Plan Review to January. We’ll get you the exact time and date when it’s announced. Kohl’s proposal will still be heard by the Conservation Commission on December 11, 5:30pm, in the City Hall Hearing […]
The Prince of Wales: Value Complexity, Respect Nature, Avoid Technological Hubris
As Kohl Construction endeavors to inject a cluster of cookie-cutter condos into one of the last substantial stands of trees near downtown Northampton, hoping that elaborate stormwater mitigation schemes will keep this swampy ground safe and unpolluted, The Prince of Wales gave a speech to the Foreign Press Association in London on November 25. To […]
December 13: Notre Dame Final Presentation in Northampton
The Northampton Design Forum makes the following announcement: Hello everyone, We’re still hard at work here at Notre Dame, finishing up our designs for Northampton, but we want to remind you that our studio will soon be returning to Northampton to present the results of our work from this semester. We’ll be giving our presentation […]
Video: Transforming Northampton’s Rail Trails to a Regional Trail Network
Friends of Northampton Trails and Greenways held their annual meeting on November 18. The featured speaker was Wayne Feiden, Director of Northampton’s Office of Planning and Development, speaking on “Transforming Northampton’s Rail Trails to a Regional Trail Network”. Here is a Google video of the meeting. It’s one hour and 16 minutes long. We join […]