NORTHAMPTON — The Planning Board on Thursday rejected a resident’s appeal of the Central Business Architecture Committee’s (CBAC) permit for construction of 91 affordable housing units downtown at the former Registry of Deeds site on King Street.
The CBAC, which reviews architectural guidelines of projects in the downtown district, voted unanimously in June in favor of the project to be co-developed by Valley Community Development and The Community Builders. A month later, the Planning Board unanimously approved the development at 33 King St.
A short time later, resident Alex Bowman appealed the CBAC’s decision to the Planning Board, arguing that the architecture panel did not actively discuss how the project meets the board’s design guidelines, in accordance with “pathways” to approval outlined in its governing manual.
“[The Planning Board] should remand the construction to the Architectural Committee to acknowledge the non-compliance, state explicitly which guidelines aren’t compliant, and select a pathway in the ordinance that they’re taking to get to their solution,” Bowman said at Thursday night’s appeal hearing before the Planning Board.
Following Bowman’s remarks, Planning Board members deliberated over whether the architecture board’s lack of a detailed discussion on the project’s adherence to design guidelines could be considered an erroneous approval and warrant a remand.
Director of Planning & Sustainability Carolyn Misch, in response to the Planning Board member Richard Baker asking whether protocols outlined in the design guidelines manual were advisory or mandated by ordinance, explained that the guide was advisory.
Former CBAC member Aelan Tierney, who serves as president of Kuhn Riddle Architects and Designers, the design team lead on the 33 King St. project, also spoke at the hearing, reflecting on her firm’s presentation to CBAC in June. She said Kuhn Riddle presented the project’s adherence to design guidelines to the architectural board during the hearing.
“We did, in the presentation, go through each guideline and describe how the project met each guideline,” she said. “There wasn’t very much discussion, perhaps because [CBAC] felt confident that we were meeting the intent of the guidelines.”
After roughly an hour of debate, Planning Board members largely agreed that while the CBAC might not have followed the advisory procedure perfectly in its decision-making process, it did not act in error. They voted unanimously to deny the appeal.
“I certainly think that the decision could [have gone] into more detail. I don’t know that that means it was a decision in error, and I certainly understand if an applicant covers everything, then there won’t be a lot of questions about what’s going on,” said Planning Board Vice Chair Chris Tait, who acted as chair Thursday night. “I’m not seeing anything in the code that says that a decision has to list these things. More information is better, but it doesn’t mean it’s required.”
Designers and architects working with Valley CDC and The Community Builders (TCB) first presented plans to build two, five-story buildings on the 1.46-acre downtown property at a June 11 hearing, which was continued to the July hearing.
The 62,000-square-foot TCB building will sit at the front of the property on King Street, containing 14 one-bedroom and studio units, 18 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom units alongside ground-floor commercial space.
The 52,000-square-foot Valley CDC building at the back of the property next to the Norwottuck Rail Trail will be constructed first. It will include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, with common space on the ground floor and laundry rooms on the upper floors.
Construction is expected to start in 2029 and be completed in 2030.
