Last call to apply to the Zoning Revisions Committee:
What is the Zoning Revisions Committee?
The Zoning Revisions Committee will assist the Northampton Planning
Board in identifying, developing, and recommending zoning ordinances
that serve to implement the Northampton Sustainability Plan. The Zoning
Revisions Committee has three main purposes:
- To review current zoning and recommend revisions as appropriate to
implement the goals of the Sustainability Plan; - To serve as an additional technical resource to the Planning Board in
matters of zoning revisions; - To provide a wide range of opportunities for public input to the zoning
revision process.
Who will be on the Zoning Revisions Committee?
The committee will consist of nine members:
- Three members with the technical skills and experience to address zoning, land use, and planning issues;
- Three members representing broad based community interests;
- One member representing environmental and conservation interests;
- One member representing economic development interests;
- One member from the Planning Board.
Date of first committee meeting: February 2009
Frequency of committee meetings:
The committee will
likely meet monthly, with a minimum of one meeting per calendar
quarter. The committee may decide to meet more frequently as necessary.
Duration of committee:
The committee will be active for two years, at which time the Planning Board will decide to conclude or extend it.
How to apply:
Please submit a cover letter indicating which skills or interests you
would like to represent on the Committee. Complete the form
“APPLICATION FOR APPOINTMENT TO ZONING REVISIONS COMMITTEE” which you
can obtain from the Planning Board office. You can also download this
form from http://www.northamptonma.gov/opd under Hot Topics.
Send your letter and the completed application form to:
Northampton Office of Planning and Development
210 Main St., Rm. 11, City Hall
Northampton, MA 01060
Or email this information to:
cmisch@northamptonma.gov
Deadline for applications: January 15, 2009
See also:
Video: August 11 Rezoning Subcommittee
Video: August 4 Rezoning Subcommittee
Video: July 28 Rezoning Subcommittee; Comments from Alex Ghiselin and Ward 3 Association
Statement from the Sustainability Study Group of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association
The decision of how the Rezoning Committee will work and who will be on
it is the first major step toward making significant changes to the
value, look and feel of Northampton. Since changes in city regulations
affect the city’s economic, environmental and demographic make-up, the
Rezoning Committee will affect the city as a whole. But making this
facile acknowledgement overlooks the manner of changes suggested by the
Future Land Use Map and the character of the work charged to the
Rezoning Committee.
The
Future Land Use Map offers an image of what the future of Northampton
could be and the appendix offers many regulations that may or may not
guide us to such a future. The changes suggested in the appendix and
reflected on the map have a general tenor: to provide ways of growing
the denser areas and conserving or preserving the less-dense ones.
Since most conservation and preservation involve little or no change in
the status quo, it is clear that the largest and most dramatic changes
coming from the Rezoning Committee will affect the denser communities.
The
urban centers and traditional neighborhoods that are all around the
city give Northampton a distinctive character and quality that the
Sustainable Northampton Plan tries to preserve as well as grow and
fill-in. If the Rezoning Committee is successful, it will have done
the following: suggest a mix of regulations that provide for growth in
Northampton without giving up what makes Northampton distinctive. This
charge is difficult because it puts the Rezoning Committee in a
constant feedback-loop with the communities it is simultaneously trying
to grow and preserve. It requires both expertise and informed
community representatives…