North Street Neighborhood Association

November 12: Conservation Commission Hearing on Three County Fairgrounds for a Wetlands Order of Conditions

NorthAssocAdmin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:10:00 GMT

Northampton's Conservation Commission will hold a public hearing on November 12 regarding work at the Three County Fairgrounds:

CONSERVATION COMMISSION in the Hearing Room 18, City Hall 210 Main Street, Northampton, MA for a public hearing:

5:00 PM Three County Fairgrounds for a Wetlands Order of Conditions for a complete redevelopment of the site, with five major new buildings created, with compensatory storage met by the demolition of most of the existing buildings.

Three County Fair Redevelopment Corporation has submitted this Environmental Notification Form and supplemental diagrams:

Three County Fairgrounds - Environmental Notification Form (PDF, 3.33MB)
Three County Fairgrounds - Existing Conditions (PDF, 1.96MB)
Three County Fairgrounds - Overall Site Plan (PDF, 2.50MB)

Here are selected pages from the PDFs:

Overall Existing Conditions

Overall Site Plan

See also:

Video: Presentation of Three County Fairgrounds Master Plan (7/25/08)
The development's marquee attraction will be a new 80,000-square-foot, climate-controlled exhibition building to be constructed near the back of the fairgrounds at the corner of Fair Street and Cross Path Road...

Gazette: "Neighbors weigh in on renovation plans" (7/24/08)
Michael Filas, of 222 Bridge St., said he was dismayed by the total asphalt footprint for the plan, which includes the paving of several grass parking lots in the area...

Catron told residents that completion of the exhibition hall alone would increase fairground revenues to nearly $35 million from the current $15.5 million, while hotel taxes would jump from $67,000 to $140,000. State taxes would go up from $490,000 to $1 million.

Springfield Republican: "Northampton gets $25,000 grant to upgrade Three County Fairgrounds" (4/28/08)
Founded in 1818, the Three County Fairgrounds is among the oldest fairgrounds in the country and operates the longest continuously running agricultural fair at summer's end. Over the past decade, however, the site has shown signs of wear and tear. A few years ago, the Fairgrounds Association dropped pari-mutuel racing from the annual fair. Major customers such as the Morgan Horse Association have also expressed concerned about the deteriorating conditions of the fair's stables.

3 County Fair Website

November 10: Info Session on Changes to the Watershed Protection (Floodplain) District

NorthAssocAdmin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:58:00 GMT

Northampton's Office of Planning and Development is circulating the following announcement (PDF):

CNNMoney: Single-Family Homes Part of Turnaround for South Bronx Neighborhood

NorthAssocAdmin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:36:00 GMT

The single-family home, disfavored by many Smart Growth advocates, is a key part of "The greatest real estate turnaround ever", according to CNNMoney today.

Charlotte Street was an apocalyptic nightmare version of urban life.

Weed-choked, junk-filled lots flanked the three-block stretch. Burned out tenement buildings punctuated the sky, and abandoned cars littered the landscape.

The street, like much of the rest of New York City's South Bronx, had fallen to epic lows by the late 1970s...

One of the primary catalysts [in the turnaround] was [Genevieve] Brooks...

...she formed a tenants association. Then she helped form a block association to lobby the city to pick up trash and abandoned cars, and to crack down on crime...

"There was a tremendous amount of community action," says former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. "That was the secret ingredient. The community refused to give up. They needed allies. They needed people who took the decline of the South Bronx as personally as they did."

Brook's and [urban planner Ed] Logue's vision was to go to the rotted core -- Charlotte Street -- and work outward. But most everyone advised them to rebuild starting from the healthy fringes. They wanted single-family homes; critics wanted density and multi-family dwellings, saying it would promote a lively, safe neighborhood and attract merchants...

Homeownership was made possible by discounting the houses: Each property sold for between $50,000 and $59,000 even thought it cost an average of $110,000 to build. The difference was funded through federal dollars, but the City of New York and various foundations also helped subsidize buyers...

...succeed it did. Original buyers invested and stayed; fewer than a dozen homes out of the 92 have ever been sold. Plus, while the rest of the country is being wracked by foreclosures, Charlotte Gardens has lost just one home to the plague...

Property values, too, have soared. Homes that originally went for $50,000 now sell for ten times that -- when one is available...

See also:

Salem, Oregon Analysis: Balanced Land Use Key to Balanced Municipal Budget, Quality of Life
...single-family, commercial/office, and industrial uses contribute more in revenues to the general fund than they generate in service costs. Multi-family and government uses have service costs in excess of revenues...

...one might conclude that the City should aggressively pursue commercial and industrial development to strengthen its fiscal position. However, an exclusive focus on these activities would not be sustainable in the long run. Indeed, a non-residential focus with little accompanying housing would produce a community with traffic congestion and long commutes. Moreover, were the City to shun multi-family housing to foster its budget, the policy would have impacts on neighboring communities and would deprive Salem businesses of access to workers, not to mention conflicts with other City and state goals and policies.

These differential impacts do, however, underscore the importance of balanced growth.

Energy Intensity Less in Single-Family Homes Than High-Rises
So why might this be? The San Francisco Bay Guardian explains (10/31/07):

...high-rises use energy in ways that single-family homes don't — for example, in thousands of elevator trips from top to bottom every day. According to a study found on the US Department of Energy's Web site, elevators consume up to 10 percent of the total energy used to maintain tall buildings. Furthermore, these buildings are usually climate controlled (in part to counteract the heat created by their elevators), whereas opening and closing windows can more effectively regulate temperatures in single-family houses and low-rise units. High-rise buildings also include common areas that often leave lights burning 24 hours a day.

Other reasons for higher energy intensities in residential high-rises can include "parking garage fans and a building code requirement that building air must be completely exchanged every three hours – air that must be heated in winter and cooled in summer." (Energy Solutions Alberta)

We also speculate that costs that are borne by an entire complex, such as lighting and heating common areas, may be less closely monitored than costs that fall on a single household. Since turning down your personal thermostat is simple and will directly save you money, you're more likely to do it than lobby your building managers to make the common areas colder.

Maybe John and Jen Homeowner who like a house with a yard aren't such bad folks after all.

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...

"Following World War II, many single family neighborhoods were rezoned to permit apartments. This was done under an urban development theory that the highest density housing should be close to the central business district. The results have been mixed. In some instances the design of multi-unit buildings are completely out of context to older neighborhoods with apartment buildings looking like they should have been part of suburbia. In places where multi-unit housing is permitted (such as areas with R-2 or R-3 zoning), it is essential to neighborhood stability that new apartment buildings be designed in scale and context with the early architectural features of the neighborhood...

Houston Chronicle: "Density hasn’t been kind to Cottage Grove..."
Density hasn’t been kind to Cottage Grove, a small neighborhood with narrow streets, few sidewalks, poor drainage and scarce parking for the owners of its many new homes and their guests.

Like many neighborhoods inside Loop 610, Cottage Grove in recent years has experienced a flurry of construction of large townhomes that loom over 80-year-old cottages next door. Two or three dwellings crowd sites where one house stood previously. Streets are cluttered with vehicles parked every which way. Water stands in the streets after heavy rains.

“It was shocking to see this jewel of a neighborhood in this condition,” said former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, a senior fellow with the nonprofit Urban Land Institute who toured Cottage Grove two years ago. “It was about the ugliest thing I’d ever seen, to be honest with you.”

Metro Portland's Long Experience with Smart Growth: A Cautionary Tale
The notion that potential homeowners would prefer to pay the higher cost of high-density housing as an alternative to the traditional home/yard/neighborhood environment style of raising families is wrong. The percentage of families moving to the Portland area that buy or rent within the UGB [Urban Growth Boundary] has fallen dramatically since site restrictions were implemented...

"Broken-Windows" Theory Validated in Study
A place that is covered in graffiti and festooned with rubbish makes people feel uneasy. And with good reason, according to a group of researchers in the Netherlands. Kees Keizer and his colleagues at the University of Groningen deliberately created such settings as a part of a series of experiments designed to discover if signs of vandalism, litter and low-level lawbreaking could change the way people behave. They found that they could, by a lot: doubling the number who are prepared to litter and steal...

The researchers’ conclusion is that one example of disorder, like graffiti or littering, can indeed encourage another, like stealing. Dr Kelling was right. The message for policymakers and police officers is that clearing up graffiti or littering promptly could help fight the spread of crime.

The Atlantic: "Broken Windows"
...at the community level, disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence. Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in rundown ones. Window-breaking does not necessarily occur on a large scale because some areas are inhabited by determined window-breakers whereas others are populated by window-lovers; rather, one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing. (It has always been fun.)

...In Boston public housing projects, the greatest fear was expressed by persons living in the buildings where disorderliness and incivility, not crime, were the greatest. Knowing this helps one understand the significance of such otherwise harmless displays as subway graffiti. As Nathan Glazer has written, "the proliferation of graffiti, even when not obscene, confronts the subway rider with the inescapable knowledge that the environment he must endure for an hour or more a day is uncontrolled and uncontrollable, and that anyone can invade it to do whatever damage and mischief the mind suggests."

Video: Zoning Revisions Committee, 11/4/09

NorthAssocAdmin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Here is a complete blip.tv video of the 11/4/09 meeting of Northampton's Zoning Revisions Committee. This video is 2 hours long and was recorded by Lachlan Ziegler. Concerned citizens are encouraged to attend the next meeting on November 12, 8pm in City Council Chambers (212 Main Street), where the ZRC will meet with the Planning Board and other groups with an interest in design issues.

Here is the official agenda of the 11/4/09 meeting:

ZRC Agenda

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Bridge Street School Cafeteria
7:00 PM

1. Public comment

2. Subcommittee reports

3. Planning for a public input session in January; set date, create agenda and outreach process

4. Discussion of what ZRC’s “production process” and timeline will be

5. Discussion of geographic demonstration/study areas

See also:

Video: Zoning Revisions Committee, 10/28/09; Attract People to Infill Areas with Amenities

Video: Northampton City Council, 11/5/09; Teri Anderson; Single Tax Rate

NorthAssocAdmin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:01:00 GMT

Here is a complete blip.tv video of the 11/5/09 meeting of Northampton's City Council. This video is video is 1 hour 58 minutes long and was recorded by Mimi Odgers of Water Not Waste. Download the official agenda (PDF, 33KB).

See also:

Northampton Media: "Anderson Given Department Head Position" (11/6/09)
City Economic Development Coordinator Teri Anderson was last evening at City Council granted the directorship of a new city department, the Office of Community and Economic Development (CEDO)... Narkewicz, Spector, Reckman, Carney, Dostal, and Murphy in favor. Bardsley and LaBarge opposed.

Gazette: "Northampton council upholds single tax rate" (11/6/09)
Suzanne Beck, executive director of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, said downtown property owners would never have supported the business improvement district if they were paying a higher tax rate. Additionally, the rate was an attractive incentive for Kollmorgen to stay in the city. Higgins agreed, saying that Kollmorgen looked at other communities with higher tax rates, but staying in Northampton will allow them to save more than 50 percent on their tax bills.

Video: Mayoral Debate on Jobs, Business & The Economy, 10/21/09

Gazette: "Mayoral candidates focus on Northampton economy" (10/22/09)
There were differences between the candidates, though, with disagreement about the city's economic development leader near the top of the list. Bardsley said he wants to find a person with the best skills to lead a new city office in charge of economic development, and the only way to do that is to open the vacant position up to all candidates...

Ward 3: Your Next City Councilor, Angela Plassmann

NorthAssocAdmin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:29:00 GMT

Today's Gazette reports:

Angela D. Plassmann defeated incumbent Ward 3 City Councilor Robert C. Reckman Tuesday by 68 votes.

Plassmann captured 576 votes to Reckman's 508 votes, winning in both Ward 3 precincts.

On her campaign website, Ms. Plassmann outlines her priorities as follows:

As your Ward 3 City Councilor, I will represent your interests in these critical areas:

Schools: I am committed to keeping all four elementary schools open, including Bridge Street School.

Infill: I support enacting design standards to ensure that future development is in harmony with the character and density of our neighborhoods, and that our green space is preserved.

Exit 19: I want to protect the Bridge Street neighborhood from the proposed massive I-91 Interchange, the need for which is not clear.

Roads: Our crumbling streets need priority attention.

Crime: Northampton’s rate of property crime exceeds the statewide average by 25%. I will work with citizens and the police department to bring this down. In particular, the two years of suspicious fires in the Hawley/Market Street area need to be resolved.

Drugs: It’s time to address drug use in our schools, meadows and neighborhoods with education, treatment and enforcement.

Accessibility: I will hold regular open office hours throughout the ward to address your concerns as they arise, and use my website and other media to alert you to matters that affect your interests.

Best Practices: I will work to implement Best Practices—term limits, explanation of the City budget, protocol for conducting meetings and making documents related to decision-making public.

Here are brief comments from Ms. Plassmann on her victory last night, recorded at City Hall by Adam Cohen:

See also:

Gazette: "Displaced Ward 3 councilor reflects on outcome" (11/5/09)
Valley Street resident James Nash, Ward 3 captain for the Higgins campaign, who held signs on Election Day for both incumbent Mayor Clare Higgins and Reckman, said he sees a strong connection between Reckman's showing and Higgins' vote totals in Ward 3.

"Both those candidates chose to support each other and I think that worked against them in Ward 3," he said.

Higgins lost in both precincts in Ward 3, getting a total of 540 votes to challenger Michael Bardsley's 674 votes.

Also working against Reckman, Nash believes, was a controversial development off North Street that has been vigorously opposed by neighborhood residents. Nash cited the Planning Board's approval of that project after months of wrangling as the source of voter dissatisfaction with Reckman.

"Bob saw this as a private-property issue and he steadfastly refused to get into the political shouting match that's gone on around it," he said. "I have no doubt that his refusal to get involved with that affected his chances of getting re-elected."

Springfield Republican: "Political observers speculate why Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins won re-election by only 344 votes" (11/4/09)
Reckman, who lost by 68 votes, believes he was done in by voter dissatisfaction over a condominium development in the North Street neighborhood and a dispute over soccer traffic on Island Road. That dissatisfaction spilled over into the mayoral race, as Bardsley took Ward 3 from Higgins, one of only two wards he won.

Northampton Media: "Angela Plassmann Issues Candidate Statement" (10/28/09)

Springfield Republican: "Northampton City Council candidate: Angela D. Plassmann" (10/26/09)

Northampton Media Video: Plassmann Debates Reckman for Ward 3 City Council Seat, 10/19/09

Northampton Media: "Plassmann v Reckman" (10/20/09)

Gazette: "Ward 3 hopefuls air override, drugs" (10/20/09)

Northampton Media: Interview with Angela Plassmann, Ward 3 City Council Candidate

Video: Mimi Odgers Comments on Water Not Waste Ballot Question Victory

NorthAssocAdmin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:09:00 GMT

Today's Gazette reports:

Shall the city expand the regional landfill over the Barnes Aquifer? No, said 63.8 percent of Northampton voters who chose to answer the nonbinding question at the polls Tuesday.

In the final analysis, 5,482 voters said the city should not expand the landfill over the aquifer, while 3,107 voters supported an expansion over a recharge zone of a public drinking water supply area.

The no vote carried in every precinct in every ward and was only slightly higher in Ward 6, where the regional landfill off Glendale Road is located.

Mimi Odgers of Water Not Waste spoke with David Pakman of Northampton Community Television in City Hall last night after the result became known. NSNA's Adam Cohen recorded the brief interview:

See also:

Video: Mayoral Debate, 10/27/09; Landfill Risks; Costs of Alternatives to Landfill Expansion
It's not clear to us how Mayor Higgins estimates such dramatically higher costs for out-of-state waste disposal. Here is page 30 from Stantec/HDR's 8/17/09 Landfill Alternatives Study presentation (630KB, PDF). It shows how Northampton's current $68.07/ton average net tip fee for commercial customers compares to some out-of-state disposal options...

Gazette: "Controversial landfill question on ballot Tuesday" (10/31/09)
The non-binding referendum question addresses the proposed expansion of the landfill over a public drinking water supply area and has sparked no small amount of controversy in recent weeks, dividing residents, political leaders and candidates for mayor in both Northampton and neighboring Easthampton.

Barnes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee: "Why Aquifers and Landfills Don't Mix"

Video: City Council Meeting of 10/15/09; Odgers Challenges Accuracy of Mayor's Campaign Website

Water Not Waste Achieves Ballot Question Signature Goal (9/15/09)

Video: Special Meeting of the Board of Public Works and the City Council, 8/21/09; Landfill Ballot Question No. 2
Northampton's 34% recycling rate lags that of many nearby communities. By operating a landfill, the city has an incentive to tip more tons of waste, not reduce them... The claim that there will be "no new environmental risk for the city" seems scientifically impossible. As noted at Zero Waste America, "even the best liner and leachate collection system will ultimately fail due to natural deterioration." It might be plausible to claim the environmental risk from landfill expansion is small, but it's not zero.

Video and Slides: Public Forum on Innovative Approaches to Manage Northampton's Solid Waste, 11/19/08

Paradise City Forum: Landfill and Aquifer

Video: Zoning Revisions Committee, 10/28/09; Attract People to Infill Areas with Amenities

NorthAssocAdmin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:27:00 GMT

Here is a complete blip.tv video of the 10/28/09 meeting of Northampton's Zoning Revisions Committee. This video is 2 hours 1 minute long and was recorded by Adam Cohen. The next meeting will take place on November 4 in the Bridge Street School Cafeteria at 7:00pm. The 11/4 agenda includes:

1. Public comment
2. Subcommittee reports
3. Planning for a public input session in January; set date, create agenda and outreach process
4. Discussion of what ZRC's "production process" and timeline will be
5. Discussion of geographic demonstration/study areas

Here is the agenda of the 10/28/09 meeting:

Zoning Revisions Committee Meeting
October 28, 2009 Agenda
City Council Chambers

7:00 PM

1. Public comment
2. Announcements
a. November 12 meeting with Planning Board on design issues
b. Future meetings and staffing
3. Subcommittee check-in
4. Analysis of current Northampton Zoning Ordinance
a. Finish presentation on barriers to infill (Danielle)
b. Finish overview (Joel)
c. Translating sustainability goals into zoning (Joel)
5. Task list
a. Public input forum
b. Subcommittee reports
c. Final product and timeline

Below is a handout distributed by committee chair Joel Russell (download as a PDF, 20KB). See also Danielle Kahn's presentation, "Barriers to Urban Infill in URC" (PDF, 364KB).

While there is much to be praised here, we suggest the following to ease the way politically and safeguard the "receiving areas" (see map below):

Give people positive reasons to live and work in the receiving areas (beyond any environmental or aesthetic benefits of curtailing sprawl). These might include:
- Access to next-generation Internet service
- Free wifi for homes, businesses and the public
- Robust tree-planting program (see benefits)
- Frequent clean-up of graffiti and trash (see 'broken windows' theory)
- Free snow-clearing from sidewalks
- Snow-clearing from bike trails
Prioritize the enactment of infill design guidelines
- Prevent awkward, inappropriate, overlarge infill developments
- Preserve urban greenspace
- Avoid increasing density to levels that lead to traffic jams and parking shortages
- Restrict the spread of impervious surface to reduce flooding risks and the urban heat-island effect

The drive for infill should be part of a larger political bargain with residents in the receiving areas, so that their risks are minimized and their benefits are clear.

See also:

Proposed Future Land Use Map (PDF)

The orange zones are "Traditional Neighborhood and Receiving Areas". The light green zones are "Conservation Development and Sending Areas".

Video Highlights from the 10/19/09 Mayoral Debate: Wetlands, King Street, Infill and the BID
Question: "Every town and city in the United States wishes they had more open space in their downtowns, believing that even little parks or open areas make a city more livable. They also attract people who want to live or frequent that city. Seemingly, Northampton does not have the same outlook as other communities. How did the infill theory for growth of the business district morph into an infill theory for all of the residential areas that surround the business district? Besides local developers and real estate agents, how does this infill benefit the current citizens and taxpayers of Northampton who live in these areas?"

Higgins: "I agree with Councilor Bardsley that we need to think about design standards. I think we need to think about density...and I think we need to think about things like greenspace and trees."

Bardsley: "I think we need design standards... Infill isn't simply cramming in buildings."

March 10: Zoning Revisions Committee to Meet; Our Suggestions
How will proposed rule changes affect the quality of life within in-town districts? Changes that erode amenities (e.g. greenspace), raise safety issues (e.g. more flooding) or create hassles (e.g. more traffic jams) may defeat the purpose of the Sustainable Northampton Plan by motivating homebuyers to sprawl out elsewhere.

Planning Board Adopts Sustainable Northampton Plan
[NSNA is] concerned...about the reference to densities of 50 years ago. Much has changed since then. In particular, women have far more jobs outside the home, meaning more cars are on the road. By the same token, more families have become too busy to dedicate an adult to shopping in small amounts on a daily basis. If you're buying 50 pounds of groceries and supplies at a time, you're probably going to prefer to do that by car rather than walk or use the bus. Factors like these mean that a neighborhood that had comfortable density in 1957 might be perceived as congested with cars today.

The New Draft Sustainable Northampton Plan: Balancing Compact Growth Against Taxes, Urban Greenspace, Homeowner Preferences
[J. Terrence Farris, Associate Professor in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at Clemson University:] ...smart growth advocates should be realistic about the amount of development that will occur in built-up areas versus outlying open land as various stakeholders consider future policies. The U.S. population is expected to double in this century. It is hard to imagine that a large percentage of that growth will occur in existing built-up areas.

Smart growth advocates should focus especially on encouraging higher-density quality development on open peripheral land. The discussion in this article suggests that this is where most development will occur. Perhaps up to 20 percent can be infill in cities and the older suburbs (this would be a big increase from present patterns). The density of most cities is 5 to 10 times that of their suburbs (Downs 1994)...

Northampton Media: "Northampton's Built Environment: Squandered Public Equity" by Tris Metcalfe, AIA

NorthAssocAdmin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:01:00 GMT

We are reprinting this 11/1/09 article by kind permission of Northampton Media. This material is presented for the purpose of voter education. NSNA does not endorse individual candidates for political office. [Article amended 11/3/09 by Mr. Metcalfe.]

Northampton's Built Environment: Squandered Public Equity
by Tris Metcalfe, Massachusetts, #5393 Registered Architect

I am an architect who has been practicing in Northampton for 29 years, spanning three mayors and three planning directors. I have been professionally involved in eight publicly-owned properties under various contracts—Professional, Volunteer, Pro-bono and with the Northampton Historical Commission.

This mayoral crossroads will decide how our public equity is developed for future generations. I report here in my duty to serve the public’s interests under my Architectural Registration, which defines a responsibility to help create the best possible built environments. I will use facts as I know them to the best of my knowledge to illustrate what mayoral power can do to our public equity.

Summary of Public Properties Exhibiting Poor Mayoral Management

1. Northampton State Hospital: 700,000 square feet of high-quality design & construction unsustainably wasted.

2. Memorial Hall: Unnecessary expenditures. Historic windows destroyed.

3. City Hall: Asbestos ignored, cracks remain in stucco absorbing water to mold, falling ice guards at entries still missing. Third floor remains unused.

4. Pulaski Park: Design and construction budget inflated beyond needs. Access between the Park and Veterans Field is lost because of the flawed and unimaginative Hilton Garden Inn Hotel site plan design.

5. Round House Lot and Proposed Hilton Garden Inn Hotel: Very poor site design. Illegal zoning process enabled by political rubber stamp. Owners of neighboring historic properties sued the City, winning unknown thousands of tax dollars from a judge very angry at the city’s actions.

6. Railroad Bed Bike Path: An emergency safety transportation link to 25% of Northampton was prevented forcing traffic into three neighborhoods and a campus.

7. Proposed Police Station: Poor site planning. Expense added in site location by ignoring existing building equity. Neighboring property adversely impacted.

8. Downtown Homeless Shelter: Our city insulted the developer who created the project.
It is understandable that many citizens are not aware of the importance and value of good architectural design. However, it is not acceptable for any city government to be ignorant of these needs and values, since government holds much power and responsibility to shape the world we all must inhabit on into the future long after they are gone.

Local taxpayers, students, and tourists all experience our public spaces. Economic return will be based upon the quality of design values in these public spaces and buildings.

I believe that all parties, governing and governed, who were involved in the above eight projects are very good people doing what they saw fit in order to accomplish what they felt was necessary.

But it is critical to realize that narrow-mindedness, combined with an ignorance of design potentials, often begets arrogant power. The views of a concerned public are dismissed. This arrogance can hurt well-intentioned goals of all parties. Group-think sets in. Centralized power expands into a select circle. Power-by-numbers, otherwise known as group-think, then absorbs reinforcing any ignorance. Sadly, group-think empowers narrow thinking, and the cycle starts all over again in re-elections. It is the opportunities lost from our public equity that are of concern in this report.

1. Northampton State Hospital: The City lost +/-700,000 square feet of high-quality design and construction in very substantial and solid condition. It had only 2% of its floor systems lost to rot damage as a result of only a few copper flashing leaks. The slate roof was in very good condition.

This site became a huge loss of excellently-built historic public equity in Northampton. It very clearly could have been reused to end up as a far better project than what has occurred. This waste is an amoral crime to sustainability principles.

But the worst loss was from clear sabotage. Just a few feet of cast iron roof-leaders were disconnected in the interior of the front and center of Old Main. This was the worst-damaged area of the many buildings, as water proceeded to fill the plaster and tile-encapsulated joist systems, which doomed them to rot loose in their joist pockets.

This was a clear but masked intentional effort to get rid of the old buildings sitting on that extremely valuable land. The people who did this were charged with preserving our local and national history to create a valuable return to the public taxpaying voters, its owners.

This wasted site has now only returned half the land sales value projected while simultaneously preventing public use or access at a valuable place with very inspiring views where a village center was to inspire civilization.

We who tried to save all this superior public equity found a developer named Bruce Becker who has developed several mental hospitals very successfully. He was very busy at the time of the original RFP, and came close to bidding on the Hospital Hill project that Gerry Joseph (The Community Builders, or TCB) eventually won. Knowing Gerry’s reputation, Bruce said “I knew he would do an excellent job reusing those beautiful buildings.”

When we asked Bruce years later if he was still interested in developing the Northampton State Hospital buildings, he said he was very interested. He knew the buildings well, but said that he needed the city, not just concerned citizens, to invite him. He had been burned once before by a city that had stealth ulterior plans.

Just last week Bruce wrote that “Political will and leadership is probably the most important factor in creating a successful project. I’m sorry to hear about the loss of these irreplaceable historic buildings. -Bruce.”

2. Memorial Hall is a gem of an historic building that was built to honor the Civil War dead, but it had an unnecessary $500,000+ elevator installation and also had most of its historic windows destroyed thus killing future state financial help from Mass Preservation Projects Funds. Mass Preservation matches city funds to preserve worthy buildings.

Once a city shows disregard for preservation by very unnecessarily destroying valuable windows, they get totally rejected from that pool of state funds.

The elevator project there was to replace an existing rail riding wheelchair access on the stairway. But only because names were switched on city department office doors would the second floor soon attract wheelchair traffic, very possibly overworking the slower existing chair lift. A much wiser decision would have been to make use of an existing elevator in City Hall to access far more space and new space at that.

The half-million dollars spent on the elevator could have contributed to the bulk of adding 50% more office space to City Hall. That building’s elevator only needed a 10×10 room to land in, plus a 3rd floor door. With the two stairs extended up to the third floor with some bathrooms, we would have had a City Hall-sized assembly and meeting room such as that which existed a century ago, more space for our public to interact with their free speech.

3. The poor condition of City Hall has been ignored for over a decade. At the Northampton Historical Commission, we did a report of the poor condition of the city hall building, finding many items showing next-to-zero maintenance, leading to poor building health and potential occupant health. The city clerk told me she had just been to Worcester’s city hall, and by comparison to ours it was embarrassing to return to her decrepit building.

The problems listed included leaking roof gutters and spouts, rotting trim, cracked stucco from structurally spreading hip roof ridges toward the corner towers which still let in water, which causes mold. City Hall workers may breathe that mold, but hopefully not also the asbestos still sitting in the attic which could have been removed in a 3rd floor renovation by now.

The ice falling over entries, and the rest of the maintenance from water still needs attention, but those concerned with the health of the building have covered over the loosening plaster in the basement with sheet rock.

4. Pulaski Park had a redesign and reconstruction budget that was oversized compared to the real needs that exist there. One of the biggest failures by the power in control of the design process was to insist on maintaining the very worst feature of the proposed Hilton Hotel site plan as shared by the Park.

That hotel plan is to create an extension to the park, more accurately described as a front yard to the hotel, by filling in the entire sloped bank which runs down to the yard of the South Street apartments, an historic building.

The flawed hotel site design would cut off public access between Pulaski Park and Veterans’ Field Park behind the Academy. This access would be lost in both the Park design and Hotel design site plans...

The children growing up in the apartment house 12 feet away from the hotel want access to Vets’ Field and the Park instead of a 20-foot-high dark, depressing, light-and-air blocking dead-end wall for the hotel's garbage alley.

5. The Proposed Hilton Hotel and Round House Lot site plan process was doomed by violations of the zoning process. Since this violation was not discovered for three months, it became legally binding.

The two historic buildings on each side of the proposed hotel sued the city for allowing a site plan that crowded and greatly diminished their value by destroying the environment they enjoyed for nearly a century. Each property won settlements that are paid with taxpayer funds to an amount still undisclosed of all legal costs and fines.

This ridiculous site plan is jammed into all available space while inefficiently squandering it. With a separate garage three feet away with no sprinkler system required, a long dead-end alley was created that prevents fire trucks from effectively protecting the wood-framed South Street Housing’s rear five-level height. That old wooden historic structure is only 12 feet away from the hotel, separated only by the children’s proposed dead-end garbage alley.

If our government was wiser it would seek a better plan—a plan that would eliminate a worthless 20-foot high concrete wall planned between the Hotel and the South Street Housing. Without that wall, a wheelchair ramp with two switchback landings could open up public access for all, along with a stair similar to what exists now. Then all could enjoy a rock garden on the bank at the Hilton Garden Inn.

6. The Railroad Bed Bike Path corridor is an undeveloped missing link in Northampton’s transportation system. It was planned to be a road when the New South Street overpass was built, and also again when the parking lot below Pulaski Park was built. The corridor represents a potential 28-foot-wide, two-lane access road, which could connect Route 66 traffic from the southwest directly to I-91 or downtown.

Eliminating this possibility means forcing traffic through the worst intersection in town, where three state routes and two local roads all collide together with city pedestrian and bike traffic.

The rail bed corridor between Route 66 and New South Street presents an obvious direct-level connection, linking 25% of Northampton to its core, not only for all emergency traffic, but also for the growing Hospital Hill traffic. This traffic is being funneled by our City’s planners through three neighborhoods and the Smith College campus instead of where it obviously belongs in order to benefit all people.

Under a better traffic plan, the new West Street neighborhood and campus could use the dead end of Route 66 as a pedestrian street with very low vehicular use. Both residents and through-traffic would find greater safety and less stress. The three neighborhoods would benefit from losing standing traffic-jam exhaust pollution.

Bike path users would not lose anything, but could gain access with a more attractive alternative routing. The improved two-lane Route 66 in that section would be 35 feet wide at the existing stone retaining walls, and could have 65 new parking spaces added. Under this plan, West Street opens up for a new commercial and residential area. Additional parking also would help the ‘old Baptist church’ renovation to survive, since that church died due to a lack of parking.

This would attract out-of-town use to that new venue, and also help sustain West Street commercial growth as it more sustainably supports Hospital Hill development and growth.

To those who believe it is always the case that a new road just increases traffic, I would say yes, but that this new road would serve our neighborhoods well as it would remove traffic there where it is the most detrimental.

7. The proposed Police Station represented another poor site-planning process. Better concepts for both saving public equity and creating human environments were ignored. Its design adds expense by destroying the existing built equity of a solid frame and foundation where added stories could easily mass against the existing abutting blank small wall.

Instead, our city planners chose to mass the new building awkwardly on one portion of the site, blocking the large wall of open-air windows at the four stories of its neighbors in the historic restored ‘Elks’ building.

This both wastes money and hurts the potential of the existing and new built environments.

8. A suitable site for the Downtown Homeless Shelter in existing city property had been difficult to find. This problem was brilliantly solved by a local developer who bought the long unused ‘Elks’ building and then found other symbiotic tenants and buyers. This allowed the city to have a very economical and well-located homeless shelter below the Quakers, who traditionally care for the homeless, and next to the police station.

Due only to a very bad bank construction loan, which required sales of condo units before dispersing additional construction funds, the project stalled. Potential buyers came and went, waiting for a timely completion. The project was not over on budget, even as it became over on time.

It was rebuilt for only about $100 per square foot by reusing all of the equity possible. It had units selling as plywood and sheetrock shells for up to $150 per square foot. But since no bank would step forward, one of the unit owners became the new bank, and the developer was bought out.

The city then callously ignored his recognition as the key developer who created their homeless shelter project when no one else was willing, able or aware enough to it. This is only important in that it's more empirical proof of our city government's dismal ignorance.

These eight examples indicate that if we voting taxpayers want better development to shape this city for its best future, we need to elect a government that has a far deeper understanding and appreciation of what can be won or lost, in human values, by the design process.

Human psychological qualities can be ignored far too easily in the architectural design process. Too many take for granted what is or isn’t good or bad in a built environment. But it is inexcusable for the power that shapes these environments to also be ignorant of the design potentials that can be gained or lost forever.

All environments shape that which is within them. We need the very best economically possible built environments to shape our fellow citizens and not have ignorant poor design forced on us by those inspired by a narrow idea of economics devoid of human-built design values.

—Tris Metcalfe, Architect, October 2009

See also:

Northampton Redoubt: "Northampton voters to choose leader on Nov. 3"
A project [Hospital Hill] that once had some vision has turned into a slightly less than routine housing subdivision adjacent to an industrial park.

Paradise City Forum: Hilton Garden Inn at the Round House

Northampton Redoubt: "Metcalfe Hilton Garden Inn design alternatives" (7/26/07)

Northampton Redoubt: "Metcalfe Hilton Garden Inn redux" (10/16/07)
Regardless we will live with what is built there until better renovations by demolition occur in the future when a much better city government would propose design competitions that fully illustrate to all of us what we are forcing in ourselves. We know when mistakes get built they remain for a long time due to the economics and then also they might get used as justifications for more bad design work since it's existing and therefore absurdly ok. No way, for anything anywhere near called a paradise!

Video Highlights from the 10/19/09 Mayoral Debate: Wetlands, King Street, Infill and the BID
Question: "Every town and city in the United States wishes they had more open space in their downtowns, believing that even little parks or open areas make a city more livable. They also attract people who want to live or frequent that city. Seemingly, Northampton does not have the same outlook as other communities. How did the infill theory for growth of the business district morph into an infill theory for all of the residential areas that surround the business district? Besides local developers and real estate agents, how does this infill benefit the current citizens and taxpayers of Northampton who live in these areas?"

Higgins: "I agree with Councilor Bardsley that we need to think about design standards. I think we need to think about density...and I think we need to think about things like greenspace and trees."

Bardsley: "I think we need design standards... Infill isn't simply cramming in buildings."

[Blip.tv clip below is 4 minutes 7 seconds long]

Video: Bay State Village Forum for Mayoral Candidates, 10/21/09; Term Limits; North Street Condo Proposal
Video highlight: Candidates discuss infill, sprawl, and protecting the interests of existing residents (2min 43sec)

Michael Bardsley: "We should try to have standards that will make sure that a new development that goes in maintains the integrity of the neighborhood... For example...there is a project...moving forward to go in on North Street, and from what I know of that project, I've looked at the site, I've looked at the plans, to me that is not a project that is going to maintain the integrity of that neighborhood. It's a project that's very dissimilar to the other homes around there, and I think that's problematic."

Design of New Police Station Wins Approval; CBAC Video (10/21/08)

March 10: Zoning Revisions Committee to Meet; Our Suggestions
Before trying to facilitate infill development, might it be best to first establish infill design standards? (see Springfield)

Video: Zoning Revisions Committee Meeting of 5/20/09
1:30:09-1:38:39... Discussion of design guidelines. Jim Nash:Neighborhood groups have anxiety about what infill will look like.Specifying design guidelines up front will ease the way for other regulatory changes. Residents will have more trust in the outcome. Let's analyze mistakes from the past.

Lessons from San Diego: Why We Need Infill Design Guidelines

Our Ad in the May 6 Gazette: "How to Avoid Classic Infill Design Mistakes"

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.

Smart Growth vs. "Smart Growth"
"Reviewing the diagram of the planned single-use sprawl [on Hospital Hill] a mile and a half from downtown, the mayor remarked on how well the architect used urban design principles by packing a lot of homes into the design. Density of construction is, of course, only one principle of urban design, but without regard for mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods, packed housing can also be a ghetto."

Valley Advocate, Sustainability: Vision or Buzzword in Northampton?, 10/2/08

...Alas, developers often seize on convenient aspects of Smart Growth that align with their profit goals and disregard others. A common result appears to be overlarge developments, inapt developments, and/or excessive density. These are major bones of contention in Los Angeles and Berkeley, to give two examples.

Condo Monotony: The Future of Ward 3?
To maximize profits, the developers have shoehorned units into their lots with little regard to the preexisting appearance of their neighborhoods. The developments feel inward-facing or 'withdrawn', not part of the regular street fabric.

Springfield Works on Infill Housing Design Guidelines; Residential Design Presentation by Dietz & Company
The City of Springfield conducted a housing design forum on June 26 to gather public input. Noting this the day before in The Springfield Intruder, Bill Dusty writes,

Let’s hope the City acts on some of the recommendations. I’ve visited many neighborhoods where oddly-fitting housing designs have made a street look disconnected - duplexes next to historical houses, for example, on Eastern Avenue. Too often, it seems, design takes a back seat to rapid construction because of the City’s apparently eager desire to rake in real estate tax dollars as soon as possible.

Download Envisioning Sustainable Northampton - Final Notre Dame Studio Presentation Book
This book was prepared by the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture Urban Design Studio for the Northampton Design Forum to stimulate discussion about urban design and sustainability in Northampton.

Envisioning Sustainable Northampton: Notre Dame Urban Design Presentation - Video and Handout

Envisioning Sustainable Northampton: Notre Dame Urban Design Presentation - Slides

Video and Slides: Final Presentation of Design Northampton Week
An old court house is contrasted with a new one:

The old Post Office is contrasted with the new one:

nomp-haho: "City Council - Village Hill Northampton" (9/27/09)
In every historical planning document relevant to this project, we see the intention to create a mixed-use village on the South Campus. The South Campus would support a diverse assortment of businesses, including technology, light industry, the arts, education, and service. Plans have called for a mixed-use village with a walking-friendly, bustling atmosphere that would draw visitors from across the region. Now we have an industrial park with a single tenant, Kollmorgen.

Notre Dame Northampton Charrette Critical of Hospital Hill Plans, Fleshes Out Alternative

The Friends of the Upper Roberts Meadow Reservoir and Chesterfield Road Dam Want Your Help

NorthAssocAdmin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:39:00 GMT

The Friends of the Upper Roberts Meadow Reservoir and Chesterfield Road Dam are circulating this appeal for help:

Dear Friends,

Please help save an important part of our community.

The Upper Roberts Meadow Reservoir and the Dam located on Chesterfield Road in Florence are slated for removal. This nearly 130-year old dam may be removed as early as the SUMMER of 2010 if we don't raise the awareness and the dollars needed to save it. The dam has been neglected for decades and now the Massachusetts Office of Dam Safety has required the City of Northampton repair or remove the dam out of safety concerns. The course of action the City has opted for is to remove the dam and drain the reservoir.

We cannot let that happen!

The Friends of the Upper Robert's Meadow Reservoir and Chesterfield Road Dam have applied to the CPA and are asking for $100,000 in this round to start us on our way toward raising the $400,000+ that the Board of Public Works is asking us to find in order to repair the dam instead of the City removing it. On Wed. Nov. 4th at 7pm in the City Hall Council room, the Community Preservation Committee (CPA) will be accepting public comments about this round of CPA funds. The Friends will be attending this meeting to explain the need for grant funds in order to save the dam, but we need as many voices there as possible.

What we need is a show of force that will show that citizens believe that the dam is worth saving for its historical and aesthetic value. It is a beautiful block-faced dam built in 1883 to create a reservoir to supply the city with drinking water and it has been allowed to fall into disrepair. The 4-6 acre Reservoir is no longer used as back-up water supply, however, the Reservoir has become home to a wide variety of animals (river otter and beaver), birds (blue heron, kingfisher, double-crested cormorant, and merganser ducks), and is of particular importance for amphibians and other creatures. Neighboring land owners (including my family) have placed their property into conservation restrictions to protect the watershed and to help connect an important wildlife corridor, and a group has formed that is committed to seeing the Reservoir protected.

CPA monies are paid for out of your city real estate taxes, so we all have a stake in how it is spent. This is what we need you to do:

We need people to attend this meeting to let the CPC see that this is important to the citizenry of Northampton and if you wish, to state a reason for saving this dam.

Before November 3rd, send a letter or e-mail to the CPC in support of our application for funds.
Fran Volkman, Chair: franv@comcast.net
Tom Parent, Vice Chair: ParentBridge@hotmail.com

If this is an issue that you care about, forward this to your friends and family, in particular those who live in Northampton, Florence or Leeds. It will take many voices to save the Upper Roberts Meadow Reservoir and the Dam located on Chesterfield Road.

Join us. We welcome your ideas and expertise.
Thank you,

The Friends of the Upper Roberts Meadow Reservoir and Chesterfield Road Dam

See also:

Valley Advocate: "Northampton's Hidden Reservoir" (9/3/09)
Neighbors found out about the dam removal project by accident. "There were guys in hard hats down by the dam about a year ago," said Dee Boyle-Clapp, who lives with her husband John Clapp in a farmstead bed-and-breakfast near the scenic reservoir. "Our neighbor Wayne Thibault went across the street and asked them what they were doing, and they said that the dam was going to be taken down. None of the abutters or neighbors had been informed."

Video: Conservation Commission Meeting of 9/10/09; Kohl Condos Approved; Upper Roberts Meadow Reservoir
Following the discussion of the Kohl proposal, the commission heard a "request by John Clapp for a support letter for a Community Preservation Act application for funds to restore the Upper Roberts Meadow Dam in Leeds" (1:29:15-2:07:11 on the video). Here is a picture of the proponents' presentation board:

Video: Board of Public Works Meeting of 7/29/09; Roberts Meadow Upper Reservoir Dam; Landfill Alternatives
The Department of Public Works is considering the dam's removal (see PDF of 2009 proposal). Some neighbors and citizens would prefer to preserve it and the character of its immediate surroundings.