Video: July 28 Rezoning Subcommittee; Comments from Alex Ghiselin and Ward 3 Association

Northampton’s Rezoning Subcommittee held its third meeting at Forbes Library on July 28. Its goal is to determine the optimal size and composition of a city-wide Rezoning Committee and submit a proposal to the planning board and city council. The Rezoning Committee’s decisions could have far-ranging impacts in how it chooses to implement the Sustainable […]

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Meeting Tonight: Proposed New Police Station and Parking Garage

Citizens are encouraged to attend tonight’s meeting of the Central Business Architecture Committee. A major new building for downtown Northampton, the police station, will be discussed. Here is the meeting notice: CENTRAL BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE COMMITTEERevised Meeting Notice(Item added) DATE:     July 30, 2008TIME:     6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.PLACE:    City Council Chambers, 212 Main Street, Northampton AGENDA […]

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Springfield Republican: “Nearly 20 percent drop in home sales reported across Massachusetts”

The July 28 Republican reported: Nearly 20 percent drop in home sales reported across Massachusetts Single family home sales across the state fell 19 percent in the first half of the year compared with January through June in 2007, according to figures released today by The Warren Group. The median price also fell during 9.2 […]

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Video: Presentation of Three County Fairgrounds Master Plan

Attendees packed a small meeting room on July 23 to see the master plan for the Three County Fairgrounds. Yesterday’s Gazette reports: Bruce Shallcross, general manager of the Three-County Fairgrounds, said the board of directors liked what they saw Tuesday night from Curtis Catron of Knoxville,Tenn.-based Bullock Smith & Partners. Catron presented the master plan […]

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CNNMoney: “Home sales at 10 year low”

CNNMoney reports on sales of existing homes in June (July 24): The National Association of Realtors reported that sales by homeowners dipped in June to an annual pace of 4.86 million… That’s the lowest rate on record since the first quarter of 1998… The existing home sales rate – including single-family, town homes, condominiums and […]

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Springfield Flooding: Rain Overwhelms Detention Pond

Recent rains have once again underscored the limits of artificial stormwater management systems. The July 24 Springfield Republican reports that recent rains overwhelmed the detention pond at the Jewish Community Center: Some cities and towns have seen a mind-boggling 5 to 7 inches of rain over the last 36 hours, [abc40 meteorologist Eric] Fisher said… […]

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The Republican: “Home prices slide in Pioneer Valley”

The July 18 Republican reports on the state of the local housing market: Home prices slide in Pioneer Valley Hampshire County sales were down 29.3 percent and the median price was $270,000, down 3.1 percent compared with the second quarter of last year… There were 3,500 houses on the market July 1 compared with 3,300 […]

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July 23rd Meeting To Present Fairgrounds Master Plan

We are pleased to relay this announcement from the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association: From: Jerry Budgar, President I’m writing to inform everyone of a very important public meeting to be held on Wednesday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m. to present the new Three County Fair Master Plan to the residents of Ward 3 and the […]

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Hyla Report: Northampton Wetlands Buffers at Narrow End of Massachusetts Spectrum

The North Street Neighborhood Association recently engaged Hyla Ecological Services to compare Northampton’s new wetlands buffer zones to those found elsewhere in Massachusetts. As a refresher, here are the buffer zones in Northampton (Municipal Code, Chapter 337-10-E-2). Note the multiple zoning districts where encroachment to within 10 feet is permitted: The City’s general policy is […]

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