Video: Planning Board Hammers Out Cautious Support for Design Northampton Week

[8/30/08 update: Joel Russell sent us the following comments, which we are reprinting with permission: Thank you for posting the video of the Planning Board meeting. I would like to offer some clarifications and corrections, however: The Planning Board has never been asked to contribute public funds. When the Board voted in June, the main […]

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Video: Best Practices Forum Studies Evolution of Meadows Plan

Here is a video of the complete Best Practices Forum that took place on August 25. We are giving the Vimeo web video platform a try. The video is about 86 minutes long. Here is an excerpt from the Best Practice Committee’s press release publicizing this forum: It took two years and eight major public […]

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Urban Community Gardens Flourish in Holyoke

The April 2008 issue of The Atlantic describes the benefits of urban gardens in Holyoke. As in Northampton, the harvest goes beyond food to include education and community-building. A few excerpts: A Papaya Grows in Holyoke …Holyoke [is] fertile ground for “urban agriculture”–the successor to the still-flourishing community-garden movement, which itself grew out of World […]

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Latest Draft of Zoning Revisions Committee Ordinance

The Rezoning Subcommittee has kindly provided us with the latest draft of the ordinance to set up a Zoning Revisions Committee. This ordinance will be reviewed by Northampton’s Planning Board on August 28 at 7pm, Council Chambers, Puchalski Municipal Building, 212 Main Street. The public is encouraged to attend. Draft Ordinance: Zoning Revisions Committee Establishment; […]

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Reminder: Best Practices Forum on August 25

As a reminder, the Best Practices Committee invites the public to a forum on August 25. The forum will study what made the Meadows Plan a success. Here is the press release: It took two years and eight major public forums to create a Land Use Plan for the 4,000 acres, mostly flood plain, called […]

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August 28: Planning Board to Discuss Zoning Revisions Committee, Northampton Design Forum

The composition and mandate of the Zoning Revisions Committee (aka the Rezoning Committee) is on the agenda for the August 28 meeting of Northampton’s planning board. This is a step in the implementation of the Sustainable Northampton Plan. The upcoming Northampton Design Forum will also be discussed. NORTHAMPTON PUBLIC MEETING/Legal AD FOR Thursday August 28, […]

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Video: Police Station Building Committee Presents Design

Here is a Google video of the formal portion of yesterday’s presentation of the proposed new police station. The video is about 57 minutes long. Today’s Gazette reports: Public gets look at Northampton police station plans Construction of the city’s new police station could begin as soon as the late fall, but city and project […]

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Proposed Design for New Police Station Unveiled

Here are pictures from tonight’s meeting of the Police Station Building Committee showing Northampton’s proposed new police station. The Republican quotes comments from the public here. We will release a video of the formal portion of the meeting tomorrow. The designers caution that the color renderings are a few weeks out of date. The Gothic […]

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State Offers Funds to Help Conserve North Street Woods

As reported in today’s Gazette, the newly signed Environmental Bond Bill includes an offer of funds to help conserve the woods off North Street. We are deeply grateful for this support from the state to preserve our urban greenspace. Here is the relevant portion of “An Act Providing for the Preservation and Improvement of Land, […]

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Design Northampton Week: Preliminary Schedule

We are pleased to share with you the preliminary schedule for Design Northampton Week. This schedule is also posted with additional information at the website of Northampton Design Forum. DESIGN NORTHAMPTON WEEK SCHEDULE (emphasis added) Note: This is a preliminary schedule – times may change. 9/6 (Saturday) 7:00 pm Notre Dame Design Team arrives in […]

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