Portland, Oregon has long experience with Smart Growth tracing back to the 1970s. While we’ve been critical of many of the ways Smart Growth has been applied there, the city has amassed a valuable body of knowledge about infill techniques that are relatively gentle on existing neighborhoods. Here are selections from “Infill Design Strategies: Best […]
Kohl Construction Plans
Flyer for May 14 Hearings; Get Your Free Yard Sign
Please encourage your friends and neighbors to attend the May 14 hearings on the latest Kohl condo proposal. Download our flyer (PDF, 394 KB) and pass it around freely. The flyer includes a review of our major objections to the proposal. Request a free yard sign from info@northassoc.org. We’ll let you know where to pick […]
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. Today, let’s look inside the Heart of Knoxville Infill Housing Design Guidelines (PDF, 2.4MB). We highlight several passages that have a particular bearing […]
Impervious Surface: New Condo Proposal Differs Little from Previous One
Jono Neiger and Sebastian Gutwein from the Regenerative Design Group have prepared these charts that compare impervious surface in Kohl Construction’s previous and current North Street condo proposals. Neiger serves on the faculty of the Conway School of Landscape Design, Graduate Program in Sustainable Landscape Planning & Design. To our eyes, Kohl’s new proposal (see […]
Kohl Construction Files New Notice of Intent for North Street Condos
Kohl Construction this week filed a new Notice of Intent to the Northampton Conservation Commission regarding its proposal to build 23 condo units off North Street. The Conservation Commission will hear this new proposal on May 14, 5:30pm in the City Hall Hearing Room, 210 Main Street, 2nd floor (enter via the back door). A […]
Our Ad in Today’s Gazette: Slab-on-Grade Foundations Raise Questions of Durability
Here is our ad as it appears opposite the editorial page in today’s Daily Hampshire Gazette (download a high-resolution PDF, 265 KB). This ad focuses on slab-on-grade foundations, a construction technique Kohl Construction wants to use for its proposed condos off North Street. In this article we reproduce the text of the ad and provide […]
Planning Board Debates Kohl Condo Density – Quotes from the March 26 Hearing
At a March 26 hearing (video), some Planning Board members voiced density-related concerns about the latest 23-unit condo proposal from Kohl Construction (21 units shown here, 2 proposed for the end of Northern Avenue not shown). Download the high-resolution PDF (1.1 MB). Here are selected quotes, with thanks to Lisa Maloney for transcription assistance: Video […]
Our Guest Article at Northampton Redoubt: “The Kohl condo proposal and the Struggle Over the Meaning of Infill”
The Valley Advocate’s Northampton Redoubt blog today publishes a guest article from NSNA member Adam Cohen, “The Kohl condo proposal and the Struggle Over the Meaning of Infill”. This article reviews the current state of the condo proposal and outlines many of our key objections. A difficulty that is becoming increasingly apparent is how unresolved […]
Video: Planning Board Meeting of 3/26/09; Board Declines to Endorse Zero Lot Line Changes; New Kohl Condo Proposal Discussed
Here is a complete Vimeo video of the 3/26/09 meeting of Northampton’s Planning Board. This video is 3 hours and 25 minutes long, and was recorded by Lachlan Ziegler. There’s a gap of a few seconds at 2:20 for camera changeover. Here is the meeting agenda: THE PLANNING BOARD AND THE CITY COUNCIL ORDINANCE COMMITTEE […]
Tree Loss and Slab-on-Grade Foundations: A Poor Fit with the Sustainable Northampton Plan
Kohl Construction claims its North Street condo proposal deserves deference as “infill”, but its proposal is in fact at odds with many recommendations of the Sustainable Northampton Plan. In our last article, we discussed how Kohl’s latest concept now includes two cul-de-sacs. These are disfavored by the Sustainable Northampton Plan and in this case for […]