Login | You must be Registered and logged in to Comment

Northampton Media

Zoning and Planning

CPC Grants Farmland Preservation Funding; Lombard Recuses Self from Vote

by Mary Serreze | Feb 4, 2010 12:27 pm | Comments (0)

Photo: Lilly Jeffs Lombard, local food and farmland preservation advocate, speaks at a recent public meeting.

Northampton’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) voted unanimously last night to fund the full $990,000 application for the permanent preservation of the Bean and Allard Farms in Florence. A site plan for the land, which is expected to host three uses—agricultural, recreational, and conservation—has yet to be developed.

Continue reading ‘CPC Grants Farmland Preservation Funding; Lombard Recuses Self from Vote’ »

Big Land Preservation Plan Advanced

by Mary Serreze | Jan 22, 2010 12:15 pm | Comments (0)

Under a plan described by Northampton planning director Wayne Feiden at last night’s City Council meeting, 185 acres of land, much of it in the floodplain of the Mill River in Florence, would be preserved forever as open space. The Trust for Public Lands would play a key part in the deal by fronting money to buy farmland within the spread, which would then be sold by the city to a farmer or farming organization. The rest of the land would be used for recreation and conservation, and would be owned by the city.

Continue reading ‘Big Land Preservation Plan Advanced’ »

Coke Plant Expansion: Can the City’s Infrastructure Take It?

by Mary Serreze | Jan 18, 2010 7:03 pm | Comments (1)

A proposed expansion of Northampton’s Coca-Cola bottling plant will greatly increase biological oxygen demand (BOD) loading at the city’s wastewater treatment plant and draw an additional 400,000 gallons of tap water per day, according to Department of Public Works director Edward “Ned” Huntley.

Continue reading ‘Coke Plant Expansion: Can the City’s Infrastructure Take It?’ »

Hotel Developer Given till February 15 to Secure $12 Million Performance Guarantee

by Mary Serreze | Dec 24, 2009 10:02 am | Comments (0)

The city of Northampton has given the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group until February 15 to come up with a performance guarantee in the amount of $12 million if the Hotel Group wants to move forward with its proposed 112-room Hilton Garden Inn project downtown. The purchase and sale agreement between the city and the Hotel Group for the so-called Roundhouse lot had called for the $12 million performance guarantee to be in hand by December 31.

Continue reading ‘Hotel Developer Given till February 15 to Secure $12 Million Performance Guarantee’ »

Hotel Group Asks City Council for Extension; Pleads for Leniency in Bonding Requirements

by Mary Serreze | Dec 21, 2009 12:53 pm | Comments (0)

The controversial Hilton Garden Inn project planned for downtown Northampton has been fraught with delays. First, environmental remediation of the site proved to be a long and complicated process. Second, as a result of economic conditions, the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group has had a hard time lining up financing. Developer Shardool Parmar now says that his financing is in place, but that it still might be difficult to come up with the $12 million bond that the city is now asking for.

Parmar has written a letter to the City Council asking for both an extension of the purchase and sale agreement and for leniency in the level of bonding that the city will require. Read the full text of Parmar’s letter here:

Continue reading ‘Hotel Group Asks City Council for Extension; Pleads for Leniency in Bonding Requirements’ »

Hotel Deadline Looms

by Mary Serreze | Dec 17, 2009 12:39 pm | Comments (0)

A purchase-and-sale agreement between the city and the Hilton Garden Inn developer expires on Dec. 31. “We don’t want somebody to get halfway through a construction project and have it go belly up,” Higgins told reporter Dan Crowley, who writes for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Planning Director Feiden offered little comment. Will city government offer developer Shardool Parmar more time to acquire the financing he needs to advance this project? Read All About It in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

HIggins to Cohen: No Violation of Open Meeting Law in Chamber/ZRC Confab

by Guest Columnist | Dec 14, 2009 6:26 pm | Comments (0)

Dear Mayor Higgins,

On viewing a 13-minute portion of the 12/2 Zoning Revisions Committee meeting at http://www.vimeo.com/8047389, I became concerned that a planned 12/15 meeting between members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Zoning Revisions Committee may not conform to the Open Meeting Law.

I request that you ask the city’s legal counsel to review the situation and take appropriate action. If the planned 12/15 meeting does in fact conform with the Open Meeting Law, I would appreciate a brief explanation as to how it conforms.

Sincerely,

Adam Cohen

Hello Adam,

The meeting between some members of the Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development Committee and some members of the Zoning Revisions Committee is not a violation of the Open Meeting Law because only four members of that group volunteered to attend the meeting; no deliberation will happen at that meeting; and it is not a meeting of the Zoning Revisions Committee or any sub-committee of that group.

The Chamber’s committee invited members of the ZRC to attend their meeting to listen to their feedback. Four members of the ZRC volunteered to attend and to listen and to report back to the larger group. They are not an official or an ad-hoc subcommittee of the ZRC; they are the four members who were able to attend that meeting.

The ZRC has 9 members and a quorum of that committee would be 5 members.

No ZRC deliberative business will be conducted at this meeting. The ZRC members who are able to attend will be listening to feedback from private property owners and business people.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Mary Clare Higgins

Mayor of Northampton

Chamber to Lead King St Rezoning Effort; Members of City Zoning Committee Invited to Private Meeting

by Mary Serreze | Dec 14, 2009 11:45 am | Comments (0)

The Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce will host an invitation-only meeting on Tuesday, December 15 to discuss potential zoning changes to King Street, Northampton’s shabby and car-centric “miracle mile.” King Street, poxed by a number of derelict properties, stretches from Damon Road to Main Street and serves as the city’s gateway from the north. A minority of the city’s Zoning Revisions Committee (ZRC), a public nine-member advisory group appointed by the Planning Board, are among those invited to attend.

Continue reading ‘Chamber to Lead King St Rezoning Effort; Members of City Zoning Committee Invited to Private Meeting’ »

What Does the Sustainable Northampton Plan say about King Street?

by Mary Serreze | Dec 13, 2009 1:31 pm | Comments (0)

The nine-member Zoning Revisions Committee (ZRC), appointed by the Planning Board, is tasked with recommending ways to amend the city’s zoning code to better support the goals and objectives of the 2007 Sustainable Northampton Plan. King Street, Northampton’s beleaguered “miracle mile,” has been a recent topic of discussion at ZRC meetings.

The ZRC is planning to work closely with the Northampton Area Chamber of Commerce to develop recommendations for rezoning the corridor, which stretches from Damon Road to Main Street and serves as the city’s gateway from the north.

What does the Sustainable Northampton Plan have to say about King Street? Read On…

Continue reading ‘What Does the Sustainable Northampton Plan say about King Street?’ »

Wetlands Dispute Alters Condo Project

by Edward Shanahan | Dec 4, 2009 4:09 am | Comments (0)

New from Ed Shanahan’s downstreet.net…

Travelers driving along Nonotuck Street must be puzzled by what they view as one of the odder developments very slowly taking shape behind what is to be the future home of the David Ruggles Center.

The dark gray house at 225 Nonotuck St. which was partially purchased with $150,000 in city community preservation funds is scheduled eventually to be a research and historical center focusing on early Florence history, especially as its relates to the activities of the Underground Railroad here in the 19th Century.

Continue reading ‘Wetlands Dispute Alters Condo Project’ »

Amendment of Kollmorgen TIF on City Council Agenda

by Mary Serreze | Dec 2, 2009 9:44 am | Comments (0)

On Tuesday afternoon, city economic development director Teri Anderson called an “emergency meeting” of the City Council’s Economic Development, Housing, and Land Use (EDHLU) committee. The issue? The status of a 5-year, 5% Tax Increment Financing (TIF) arrangement promised to Kollmorgen Electro-Optical, the defense contractor building a new $18 million, 40,000 square-foot headquarters complex on Northampton’s Village Hill.

(Dann Vasquez’ Scrapbook Blog. )

Continue reading ‘Amendment of Kollmorgen TIF on City Council Agenda’ »

Fairground ENF Filed: Clock Ticking on Public Comment

by Mary Serreze | Nov 22, 2009 8:45 am | Comments (1)

The Three County Fair Redevelopment Authority has submitted an Environmental Notification Form (ENF) to state regulators, kicking off a public comment period that will last until December 14. (Download 4-page ENF here.)

Continue reading ‘Fairground ENF Filed: Clock Ticking on Public Comment’ »

Exit 19 PAC Meeting 11-16 Full Video

by Mary Serreze | Nov 20, 2009 10:42 am | Comments (0)

ConsCom to Fairgrounds Developers: More Info Needed on Drainage Plan

by Mary Serreze | Nov 12, 2009 9:03 pm | Comments (0)

The Berkshire Design Group sent a couple of Dockers-clad and PowerPoint-armed young men to last night’s Conservation Commission meeting to petition for a wetlands “Order of Conditions” on behalf of the Three County Fair Redevelopment Corporation, a private-public group that plans to demolish most of the old fairground structures and build a new, $11 million year-round exhibition hall and event center.

Continue reading ‘ConsCom to Fairgrounds Developers: More Info Needed on Drainage Plan’ »

Exit 19 PAC Meeting Monday

by Mary Serreze | Nov 12, 2009 4:34 pm | Comments (0)

A rare I-91 Interchange 19 Project Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting will be held on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 7:00 PM in the Community Room of JFK Middle School. The meeting agenda promises updates on “Issues and Alternatives Analysis,” on the “Public Involvement Plan,” and traffic data collection and analysis. MassHighway’s plans for a fully-directional interchange at the base of the Coolidge Bridge are in limbo—Monday’s meeting will reveal new information; we will report back.

Sponsors

North Street Neighborhood Association

RSS Feeds

Northampton Media: Main Section (RSS) Northampton Media: Zoning and Planning (RSS)