Housing
Grow Smart Northampton
Executive Order 418 Northampton Community Development Plan
Adopted by the Northampton Planning Board December 2, 2003 (unanimous vote)
Accepted by City Council Industry Committee, December 8, 2003 (unanimous vote)
Northampton Housing Partnership, Resolution December 16, 2003 (unanimous
vote): “The Northampton Housing Partnership commends the Commonwealth for
recognizing the importance of comprehensive planning and the important issues
facing cities in the Commonwealth; and further applauds the inclusion of the
assessment of housing needs as part of that process and the Grow Smart
Northampton report that the EO418 funding enabled. We look forward to using the
valuable tool in our planning process.”
Adoption and acceptance of the plan does not imply endorsement of the
consultant’s recommendations in the Appendices. Grow Smart Northampton is part
of the information gathering phase for an upcoming Northampton Vision 2020
Comprehensive Plan. As such it is a work in progress. The plan will be revised and
fully endorsed after the public input portion of the city’s comprehensive planning
process.
This plan was developed using funds provided pursuant to Massachusetts Executive Order 418
program. While all the funds for the plan and consultants were provided by the Commonwealth
and the format of the planning was partially determined by the EO418 guidelines, all of the
conclusions are those of the City of Northampton.
Grow Smart Northampton Page 2
Grow Smart Northampton Project Team
Consultants
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission—Community indicators and community profile
Karl F. Seidman—Northampton Retail Market Analysis
Open Space Development and Large Building Design Standards Zoning--Joel Russel
King Street Corridor Study-- VHB
Project coordinated by the Northampton Office of Planning and Development
Wayne Feiden, Director of Planning and Development, Project Coordinator
Peg Keller, Housing and Community Development Senior Planner, Housing Element
James Thompson, GIS Coordinator, GIS map production
Carolyn Misch, Land Use Senior Planner
Gloria McPherson, Conservation and Land Use Planner
Michael Owens, CDBG Administrator
Assistance from the Mayor’s Office
Mary Clare Higgins, Mayor
Teri Anderson, Economic Development Coordinator, Retail analysis and economic
development
Grow Smart Northampton Page 3
Grow Smart Northampton
Executive Order 418 Northampton Community Development Plan
December 2003
Table of Contents
Executive Summary and Putting it all Together Element..................................................... 4
A Vision for the Future Identified in Vision 2020.................................................................. 8
Goals and Objectives Identified in Vision 2020................................................................. 11
Open Space and Resource Protection Element................................................................ 16
Housing Element............................................................................................................... 24
Economic Development Element ...................................................................................... 48
Transportation Element..................................................................................................... 60
APPENDIX—Community Health Indicators (PVPC).......................................................... 62
Grow Smart Northampton work products available at www.NorthamptonPlanning.org:
o Grow Smart Northampton
o Northampton Community Indicators (Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, January
2003).
o Northampton Retail Market Analysis (Karl F. Seidman, December 2003)
o King Street Corridor Study (VHB, December 2003)
o Possible Zoning Amendments—Large Scale Residential Development and Open
Space Development (Joel Russel, December 2003)
o Possible Zoning Amendments—Large Building Design Standards (Joel Russel,
December 2003)
Grow Smart Northampton Page 4
Executive Summary and Putting it all Together Element
Grow Smart Northampton generates some of the data and tools necessary to support
the upcoming city-wide comprehensive plan. Grow Smart Northampton is an outgrowth
of the City’s comprehensive planning process, which began in 1999 with Vision 2020:
Vision and Consistency Analysis.
In 2004 and 2005, the City will go back to the community for a series of workshops to
understand how the community’s vision has evolved and how best to implement that
vision. With extensive citizen and board participation, Vision 2020: Vision and
Consistency, Grow Smart Northampton, and other existing city plans will be updated
and linked together to create a single comprehensive plan. Ultimately, Vision 2020 will be
designed to reflect our community’s vision and commitment.
The most important aspect of Vision 2020 is that Northampton’s planning is an on-going
process, not a onetime effort. The City will always work with our residents to ensure a
future we all can embrace. The table below summarizes the implementation plan to create
a city-wide comprehensive plan, and thereby implement this plan.
Current and Planned Vision 2020 Comprehensive Plan Elements
Plan Element Purpose and Status When
Vision 2020: Vision and
Consistency Analysis
Identify community vision. Create a blueprint for the
comprehensive plan
1999
Open Space and Recreation and
the Environment
To be revised in 2004-2005 and expanded into full
environmental element
2000
2005
Consolidated Plan For support public services and housing elements of
comprehensive plan
2000 &
2005
Grow Smart Northampton Develop the data to support a comprehensive plan 2003
Land Use Plan Downtown, Florence, State Hospital (1993-1997), Pleasant
Street (2001). Other area plans underway.
2005
Housing Consolidated plan revision will complete housing element 2005
Economic Development Economic Development Strategy, to be revised into
comprehensive plan element
1999
2005
Public Services Consolidated plan revision will complete public services
element
2005
Comprehensive Plan Merge elements into seamless plan 2006
Grow Smart Northampton is designed as part of the data collection phase necessary to
support the creation of a comprehensive plan for the city. Some of the data in Grow
Smart Northampton will soon be out-of-date and will be updated as the comprehensive
planning process progresses. Over the coming months the Planning Board and other city
boards and agencies will work to update the data, consider some of the preliminary
findings, and move forward strategically on specific implementation steps, such as
amending zoning and planning a CDBG Action Plan for FY2005, to implement elements of
the plan.
Grow Smart Northampton is part of the information gathering and option identification
that is necessary to support a comprehensive plan. It is NOT the primary participatory part