I am writing to express my concern over the potential changes put forward by the owners of the former Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech property on Round Hill Road under consideration by the Planning Board. (Editor’s note: The board was scheduled to consider a site plan amendment at its Thursday meeting.)
I have lived in this neighborhood for more than 25 years and enjoyed its quiet residential nature. I hope that experience can continue.
While I understand the interest of the city and the Planning Board in making adequate use of what used to be an educational property, I do not feel the changes put forth by the current owners and their proposed check-writing firm are appropriate or necessary. A business enterprise is in no way equivalent to an educational institution.
The removal of trees that is asked for would likely increase the runoff that is already a problem in the neighborhood, as well as add to air and light pollution. This would be the case even though the proposed changes would include water retention systems. Many of the existing trees are mature species that add considerably to the area’s beauty, quiet and environmental probity.
Equally noxious is the proposal for a 90-space parking lot. The light pollution and runoff make such a development untenable. Not only would such a parking lot increase traffic on surrounding streets, it does not respond to the environmental need to decrease reliance on cars.
Bus service is available near the end of Round Hill Road on Elm Street. Traffic generated by the Clarke School cannot be considered equivalent. Couldn’t the company provide bus service to another location more suitable for parking?
I hope you will listen to the considerable number of area residents who, like me, have expressed their distress by stopping the proposed development on Round Hill Road. That means not cutting down healthy, mature trees that give the neighborhood its character and environmental validity just as much as the historic buildings.
Even more important, it means stopping the increase in parking and moving the lot to a less intrusive place. Please listen to the longtime residents of the Round Hill Road area and stop its further development.
Brooks Robards
Northampton