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 […]
Kohl Construction Plans
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 […]
Gazette Reports on Kohl Condo Hearings; Pictures of the Latest Proposal; Conservation Staff Report; HYLA Critique
Today’s Gazette reports on the Conservation Commission and Planning Board hearings yesterday for Kohl Construction’s proposed condo project off North Street (see schematic diagrams and narrative). We’ll have videos of both these hearings online within a few days. No decisions were made. Hearings are scheduled to continue on February 26 (Conservation Commission) and March 26 […]
Our Ad in Today’s Gazette: A Review of Our Objections to the Kohl Condo Proposal
Here is our ad as it appears on page 3 of the A section in today’s Daily Hampshire Gazette (download a high-resolution PDF). This ad summarizes many of our key objections to the Kohl condo proposal for North Street. The text is reproduced below the ad image with links added so you can explore the […]
New England Climate Change: More Rain on Snow Will Challenge Stormwater Management
Stormwater modeling calculations, such as those found in the Kohl condo proposal for North Street, typically leave out a number of common scenarios. One of the most challenging of these is managing the flow from rain that falls on snow. Frozen ground doesn’t absorb water well. Snow can plug up pipes and grates and interfere […]
Kohl Submits Revised Proposal Ahead of January 22 Hearings; Modest Concessions to Conservation Commission
Kohl Construction, doing business as Tofino Associates/Northern Avenue Homes, submitted a revised condo proposal to the Conservation Commission on Friday. Download PDFs of the revised proposal (1.96MB) and associated narrative (1.31MB). This proposal will come before the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board on January 22 (see below). Concerned citizens are urged to attend. Here […]
Kohl Condo Proposal: Come to the Conservation Commission Hearing on January 8
We are distributing this flyer to the North Street neighborhood. Download it as a PDF. Join us on January 8 and let the Conservation Commission know a developer’s profits must be balanced with our safety, quality of life, and the health of our environment. See also: Kohl Construction Applies for Special Permit and Site Plan […]
Video: “Low Impact Development: Performance Results and Implementation in the Field”; Summer vs. Winter Performance of Stormwater Systems
Here is a Google video of “Low Impact Development: Performance Results and Implementation in the Field”, a presentation from the Smart Growth – Smart Energy Conference 2008, a conference held on 12/12/08 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. This presentation includes a comparison of the merits of various stormwater management systems. Some are much […]
Video of December 11 Kohl Condo Hearing at Conservation Commission; Hearing Continued to January 8
Here is a Google video of part of the Conservation Commission meeting of 12/11/08 (also viewable at Vimeo video). This portion is two hours and 12 minutes long, and includes the presentation of proposed condos (25 units) off North Street by Kohl Construction, followed by public discussion and comments by members of the commission. Kohl […]
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 […]