NORTHAMPTON — Right now, 39 Landy Ave. in Florence’s Bay State Village neighborhood is vacant and dilapidated. Soon, the house and outbuildings could come down and the overgrown lot could be cleared to make room for as many as three new houses, part of a broader redevelopment plan unfolding in the area led by Nu-Way Homes.
The Conservation Commission heard from representatives of Nu-Way Homes, of East Longmeadow, on Thursday about the erosion control measures they will take to complete demolition and lot clearance without disturbing nearby wetlands. The commission voted to allow the project to proceed, finding that the work will not alter the shrub swamp behind 39 Landy Ave.
The applicant was required to seek the commission’s approval because the work will be done, at least in part, within a 100-foot buffer zone around the wetlands. Approval is given after the applicant ensures that “the work you’re doing is not going to have an adverse effect on the resource,” Carolyn Misch, the city’s assistant planning and sustainability director, said.
But some of the neighbors are not thrilled about the redevelopment plan — full details of which have not been made public yet — because of the rapidly changing character of the neighborhood, and one abutter is worried that mismanagement of the project would damage her own house.
Celeste Palladino lives next door to 39 Landy Ave., and she told the commission she was worried that the roots of trees on the lot will need to come up, which could potentially disturb the foundation of her house.
“That stand of Norway spruces is quite tall and the roots are visible and travel very far into my yard,” Palladino said on Monday. “I would just be concerned about the process of removing them. Does that have a potential impact on my foundation? … Do I have to absorb the cost of hiring an arborist?”
Palladino said her family would like answers and a warning if the work proceeds so that “we can move our cars and not be home in case it goes badly.”
She also will miss the birds that gather in the trees and sing so loudly that “you can be woken up” by the beautiful music, she said.
“Legally, there’s nothing to be done about preserving those trees, but it is going to be a big habitat loss,” she said.
A phone message and an email to Nu-Way Homes seeking comment for this story, left on Monday, were not immediately returned.
In an effort to raise awareness of the neighborhoods’ concerns, someone recently posted gravestone-style cardboard signs around Bay State Village, tacking them to utility poles along with a typed message labeled “Artists’ Statement.”
“With these gravestones, we grieve the hastening of climate change and the homogenization of our built environment caused by these housing projects and City government,” the statement reads. It faults the city for allowing private development that depends on cutting down trees, demolishing historic homes and eliminating open space.
Diane Scott lives across the street from No. 39. She said the former owner was “a great friend of mine and my husband. They were always walking across the street to see each other.”
Scott referred to the ongoing development as “gentrification” of a historic neighborhood.
“I know everybody’s name on the street, first and last, and I know all the names of their pets. And they know mine,” she said. “We are not just coming together to be nasty. We are a tight neighborhood. We truly care about each other.”
She said the property features “a magnolia tree that will absolutely knock your socks off. It’s right in the middle of the lot. I know it’s not going to live.”
Nu-Way Homes bought and divided several lots in the neighborhood in order to build more than one house in some places, which is allowed under city zoning regulations; neighbors, though, worry about the density as well as the cost of the new houses.
Nu-Way Homes built several new houses in recent years, including those at 57 Warner St. and 25 Baker Hill Rd., each less than a mile from Landy Avenue. The former is on the market for $599,900 while the latter sold last August for more than $753,000.
Rue Walther of Warner Street told the Gazette last year that her house, bought in 2004, cost $185,000. Also last year, Misch said that Nu-Way Homes could potentially create three lots on the 39 Landy Ave. site.
Scott said that when she heard that three houses could be allowed, it started a “war,” even though no official plans have been revealed.
“I don’t have a problem with two houses,” she said. “With the infill provision, we thought it would be two, but three? Yikes! Does that mean three garages, three driveways? … We have yet to see a plan.”
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.