Questions and Answers
Rocky Hill Open Space Acquisition
Northampton Conservation Commission and Office of Planning and Sustainability
1)The application mentions the potential for multi-trail linkages. Please provide a map
showing the existing trails to which the proposed acquisition would connect/enhance.
PurpleRed
is the existing rail and multiuse trail system is the connector that would be possible
with this parcel. This is a key link to eventually allow the multiuse trail network to extend all the
way to the neighborhood near the Ryan Road School
2)Could any smaller portion of the acreage be purchased and still accomplish wildlife
connectivity? Are we inadvertently creating an insulating buffer that extends public utility
access for inevitable development between Northampton and Easthampton?
There is not a smaller layout that would protect the key linkage from the Meadows to the State
Green
Hospital to the Rocky Hill area. (See connections on the map below.)
The property does not have frontage on Easthampton Road/Route 10 other than a small portion
of the property that is all wetlands, so acquiring this land does not prevent development in the
southerly portion of the Business Park where it is most appropriate. (Even there development is
limited by the presence of vernal pools, but there is 10 to 20 acres of prime business park
property that will hopefully be developed.)