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Date: 11/27/2023
NORTHAMPTON — During its Nov. 16 meeting, the Northampton City Council unanimously approved a resolution showing their support for the city’s Main Street redesign project.
The resolution, which was first presented by the City Council during its Oct. 19 meeting, illustrates how the Picture Main Street project is consistent with the city’s adopted legislation over the past two decades to increase safety on the city’s public ways by making them more accessible, walkable and cyclable.
“The Northampton City Council recognizes and stands by the more than 20 years of planning by our elected and appointed officials that will lead to a safer, greener and more vibrant downtown, with their thorough planning reflected in Picture Main Street,” the resolution read.
The goal of the $21 million Picture Main Street project is to provide a safer functioning downtown area with improved accessibility for all users.
“The current situation we have is dangerous, and we cannot continue this way,” said City Councilor Garrick Perry, of the current Main Street. This design looks forward to not only increasing our safety, but also looks forward to achieving our climate goals.”
To prepare for these new improvements, the city has conducted several public meetings over the past few years to discuss design alternatives for Main Street and help narrow the design possibilities down to one so 25% plans can be submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to move the project forward.
“The primary reason for redesigning Main Street is to address deficiencies in safety that have resulted in Northampton’s Main Street being one of the more dangerous Main Streets in the commonwealth when comparing crash data and injuries,” Planning and Sustainability Director Carolyn Misch told Reminder Publishing back in the spring.
The project begins west of the intersection of Elm and West Streets and extends approximately 0.4 miles east to the intersection of Market and Hawley Streets.
The proposed design from the city provides one travel lane in each direction on Main Street with a center running flush median that will afford space for turning vehicles at key locations.
Additionally, bike lanes are proposed on both sides of the roadway separated by a buffer and the project also calls for expanded sidewalks so there is more room for people to walk.
Other amenities like enhanced lighting, tree plantings, bus stop accommodations, reconfigured parking-including the proposed elimination of 57 spaces-and dedicated spaces for loading and deliveries are part of the proposed design.
Construction is expected to occur from 2025 to 2028.
Months of discourse
The city’s design plan for Picture Main Street has led to passionate public discourse over the last several months.
During that period, a group of Northampton residents have expressed concerns about the construction length, traffic congestion and what type of impact the construction would have on downtown businesses, among other things.
A group known as “Save Northampton” started to circulate a petition on Aug. 14 that criticized the design plans for Main Street. The petition is titled “Save Northampton MA Main Street — keep Main Street accessible for all,” and has since garnered over 2,000 signatures.
“Traffic congestion will be unbearable, generating significant emissions from idling vehicles,” read the petition. “The public will avoid downtown Northampton, which is still struggling to recover from the COVID[-19] pandemic.”
The petition listed about 12 concerns with the new construction, including emergency vehicle access, snow removal, an elimination of parking and much more.
Mayor response
In response to those concerns, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra released a document with frequently asked questions about the project back in October.
At 16 pages long, the document addresses a majority of the issues expressed by residents including the proposed elimination of 57 parking spaces, congestion/climate concerns, emergency vehicle access, concerns around a separate bike lane and more.
“Multiple studies agree that downtown has enough parking,” reads the document. “Within a block or two of where you’re going, there is a spot — and remember that there is a parking garage with a bridge leading right into Thornes Market in the heart of downtown that always has spaces available, and the first hour is free. Numbers show that about 12% of the people who park there pay nothing, 20% pay just 75 cents for two hours, and another third pay $1.50 for three hours.”
As for the concerns around how the project will affect businesses, Sciarra’s document states that the city is taking a cyclical approach to how the construction is finished and they also plan to work with businesses to find the best approach possible.
The project, spread over three seasons, will have phases of intense activity followed by quieter periods,” the document reads. “This cyclical nature offers both challenges and windows of opportunity. To navigate this, we’re in close collaboration with the business community and Toole Design to strategize ways to mitigate the impact and maximize business benefits.
“Our city’s economic development team is also actively brainstorming events, exhibits and special programming to draw people downtown and support businesses during the construction phases,” the document continues.
Save Northampton’s alternate plan
Even though Sciarra released the document to mitigate concerns, the Save Northampton group continues to express concerns about the project.
John DiBartolo, a partial leader of Save Northampton and an attorney with offices in Easthampton and Northampton, was allowed to present an alternate design plan for Main Street during the Nov. 16 council meeting. The alternate plan, which was also presented at Hotel Northampton earlier in the week, was based on one of the many redesign possibilities put forth by Toole Design Group, which is the group in charge of the project.
The alternate design presented by DiBartolo eliminates the buffer between the bike lanes and retains two lanes in both directions on Main Street.
The plan also asks for a bike path loop that would connect bike lanes on Main Street to the bike path network across town.
Additionally, the alternate plan adds bump outs, signal lights, raises speed humps, and removes angled parking on the north side to replace it with parallel parking.
DiBartolo argued that this alternate plan better addresses traffic density, pedestrian safety and bicyclist safety.
“We totally have the same goals; it’s just a question of how those things can be implemented,” DiBartolo said during the presentation. “We think it’s worthwhile to give this another look.”
Councilors questioned the validity of the alternate plan after the presentation.
“You’re fanning the flames of concern,” City Council President James Nash said. “You’re not a traffic engineer … rather than presenting an alternative, you’re criticizing the plan we have come together behind.”
Public comment
Over an hour of public comment included people speaking in favor and against the city’s current design plan for Picture Main Street.
Those in favor of the project included Florence resident Amy Sugihara, who serves on the Northampton Disability Commission.
Sugihara commended the work of the mayor’s office and Planning and Sustainability office for making their current design as accessible as possible.
“As a wheelchair user, I really appreciate some of the changes that will be coming to the downtown,” Sugihara said. “The sidewalks are currently not safe to navigate independently.”
Other people, like 20-year resident Jeff Sternal, were concerned about the current design and wanted the city to consider an alternate.
“There are a lot of things to like about the Picture Main Street plan, I worry however about the road diet,” Sternal said. “The Main Street redesign plan as its constituted today pushes hard to make our downtown more inclusive, which is incredible…but the lane reduction pushes the city further down the opposite path.”
Council unanimously supports city’s Main Street redesign
During all three meetings involving the resolution, the council expressed their overwhelming support for the city’s current Main Street redesign plan.
City Councilor Stan Moulton said the city’s current design plan is a “people-centric plan” rather than a “vehicle-centric” one.
“It’s the people that are going to fuel the revitalization of downtown, of Main Street, as a place of commerce, entertainment, and being a place of public expression,” Moulton said. “It’s the people that are the most important element of this project and I too support it.”
City Councilor Alex Jarrett, meanwhile, showed support for the resolution’s commitment to illustrating the history of Northampton’s major plans and how they all led up to Picture Main Street during the council meeting on Oct. 19.
“I believe that [Picture Main Street’s] design is entirely consistent with these policies,” Jarrett said. “The details of this design are not done, but the broad plan is done, and what I am asking, and I think what other sponsors here are asking is for us to come together on that broad plan.”
Sciarra’s announcement
In a press release, and during the Nov. 16 council meeting, Sciarra announced that the Mayor’s Office is collaborating with the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown
Northampton Association to support Main Street businesses during the construction process of Picture Main Street.
“Together, we will ensure that downtown remains a bustling hub of activity, culture and business throughout the construction period. I am excited about the creative ideas we are discussing and how these can be enhanced and evolve with further community input,” Sciarra said in a statement.
The announcement states that downtown will remain open for business during the construction period.