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Date: 4/4/2023
NORTHAMPTON — The Office of Planning & Sustainability hosted a public forum on March 27 to go over updates on the redevelopment of 196 Cook Ave. for housing units.
Carolyn Misch, the city’s director of Planning & Sustainability, presented draft conceptual plans to the public that includes four affordable housing units and conservation area parking in the location where the former Moose Lodge was once located. The conceptual plan specifically propose a combination of public and private parking.
The current goal of this project is to collect public opinion on it so the Office of Planning & Sustainability can fine-tune aspects of the plan before submitting an application to the Planning Board for site plan approval.
According to Misch, Planning Board permitting for a project is required when there is a parking lot that is bigger than six spaces or if there is a project that requires additional density for the purposes of providing affordable housing. A project also requires Planning Board permitting through site plan approval if there is more than one detached unit on a property.
“The Planning Board permitting is the phase in which there will be very detailed information about lighting, landscaping and building design,” Misch said. “All of that fine-tuned engineering will come at the Planning Board phase.”
Other proposed plans for the former Moose Lodge location have been considered in the past. Back in April, the City Council voted 8-1 to allow the city to acquire the property at 196 Cooke Ave. for the development of an animal control facility.
After perpetual pushback from abutters — especially those occupying the nearby Pines Edge condo complex — the city shifted its focus to redeveloping the Cooke Avenue property for up to four affordable housing units.
In July, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra made an announcement about the different livability initiatives the city is embarking on to help people who are being priced out of their homes.
“Starting with the Sustainable Northampton Plan in 2008 and followed by multiple plans and analyses since, the city has embarked on a deliberate process to revise the city’s codes and zoning to encourage climate-friendly, sustainable development that works to address the housing shortage in Northampton,” Sciarra told Reminder Publishing back in the summer. “Seven city councilors and three mayors have worked to clarify and streamline city rules to encourage responsible development consistent with our climate change and equity values.”
The city is working on this project with the Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that has been building affordable housing in Hampshire and Franklin Counties for over 30 years.
According to Misch, Habitat is an interested partner in this project.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity for homeownership so close to conservation,” said Megan McDonough, the executive director of Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity. “It’s a great neighborhood, and I think it will be an amazing opportunity for some families who can’t other wise afford to live in the city to give the chance to access the incredible resources of the city.”
Habitat has worked with Northampton several times for housing projects. Currently, they are building three homes on Burts Pit Road that are 700, 800 and 1,000 square feet.
City Councilor Stan Moulton, whose ward features this proposed project at Cooke Avenue, emphasized the need to balance the existing abutting properties with the new apartments expected to occupy the former Moose Lodge, as well as the conservation area that inhabits the location.
“We want to be respectful of the people who are currently living [at Pines Edge],” said Moulton. “We have potentially four new families moving into the housing [at 196 Cooke Ave] that we want to be respectful of, and we also have visitors who park there to use the conservation area who we want to accommodate.”
While questions remain about how the city intends to fit additional parking spaces at the 196 Cooke Ave. location, some residents, like Pines Edge occupant Christine Clark, said that the additional spaces are needed to prevent people from parking along other people’s property on Pines Edge.
She requested no parking signs as another strategy for preventing people from parking along the abutting properties.
Bob Zimmermann, the president of Broad Brook Coalition –which co-manages the Fitzgerald Lake Conversation area with the city – said the coalition is “very pleased” with the project on a “number of scores.”
“We’re pleased that Habitat for Humanity is going to be in charge,” Zimmermann said.
Many other residents expressed similar positive sentiments for Habitat, but some expressed concerns about the possible lack of wetland protection during construction as well as issues with lighting.
Future public hearings are expected regarding this project.