[Update: The City Council agenda says this proposal is getting its first reading on November 6, but it’s actually at an earlier stage of the process. The proposal will likely be referred out to various committee meetings and hearings before coming back to the Council.] This November 6, Northampton’s City Council will get its first look at amending Ordinance […]
Ordinances and Regulations
New Hazards Mitigation Plan Reflects Weakened Protection for Wetlands
Northampton’s Office of Planning and Development has made the new Proposed Local Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan (PDF) available for public review. The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on this plan on November 13, 7pm, in City Council Chambers, 212 Main Street. We compared the new Plan to the existing one, which the City Council signed […]
Charts from Cityschool 101 Session of October 20
As described by Mayor Clare Higgins, “cityschool is a 9-week in-depth introduction to how your city government works and is modeled on the successful Citizens Police Academy. We often receive phone calls in my office which begin with ‘I’m not sure what office to call, but…’, which made us think we can do a better […]
Zoning Revisions Committee on City Council Agenda for 10/16/08
The proposed Zoning Revisions Committee is on the 10/16/08 agenda of Northampton’s City Council. The meeting will take place at 7:15pm in City Council Chambers, 212 Main Street. The public is encouraged to attend. The City Council will decide whether to endorse the creation of the Zoning Revisions Committee, which is to recommend zoning changes […]
The Notre Dame Northampton Charrette – Website Launches
The Notre Dame School of Architecture has launched a website to present their ideas about Northampton and engage with citizens. Professor Philip Bess and six graduate architecture and urban design students–Kalinda Brown, Dan Degreve, Josh Eckert, Scott Ford, Aaron Helfand, and Crystal Olin–initiated a semester’s worth of study of Northampton with Design Northampton Week. Visit […]
Research on Best Practices in Other Communities
Northampton’s Ad-Hoc Committee on Best Practices is circulating this research memo for public review. It includes an exploration of how other cities bring the public into their decision-making. You can download this memo as a PDF (which will let you copy the text and click the links). Here is the date and location of the […]
City Council Takes Up Traffic Calming Manual on 9/18/08; Traffic Concerns from Ward 3; Impact of Traffic Calming on Bicyclists and Snow Removal
The following proposed resolution in on the agenda of the Northampton City Council for 9/18/08: The City Council endorses the Northampton Traffic Calming Manual and directs the Transportation and Parking Commission to monitor the program’s implementation, efficacy, and public feedback and, as necessary, approve any future modifications needed to achieve the City of Northampton’s overall […]
Rutherford Platt, “The Humane Micropolis” – Full Text
Dr. Rutherford Platt has kindly given us permission to reprint the full text of his September 6 guest column in the Gazette. Dr. Platt cautions about the hazards of overplanning a city: The ‘humane micropolis’ Northampton has evolved on its own terms “Design Northampton Week,” which begins this Sunday evening at the Senior Center on […]
Video and Slides: Final Presentation of Design Northampton Week
Here is a Google video of the final presentation of Design Northampton Week. It’s 2 hours and 5 minutes long. Notre Dame Professor Philip Bess and his graduate students offer urban design suggestions for Northampton, drawing on principles of New Urbanism and compact growth. This PDF file (63 pages, 5.8MB) contains all the slides shown. […]
Video: Fourth public “in-process” presentation and feedback session for Design Northampton Week
Here is a complete Google video of Design Northampton Week’s fourth public “in-process” presentation and feedback session that took place on September 12. It’s one hour and 20 minutes long. Thanks to Katharine Baker, a member of the Northampton Design Forum organizing committee, for volunteering to operate our video cameras. This was the last “in-process” […]