The Northampton Planning Board granted approval to Kollmorgen Electro-Optical on Thursday, June 11, for its plan to construct a 140,000 square foot building, complete with fencing and post-911 security, on top of Northampton's Hospital Hill. The Kollmorgen project required a radical amendment of the original master plan for the former Northampton State Hospital grounds—a plan which had called for a mixed-use village of housing, shops, and craft-scale industry.
About 20 citizens came to try to persuade the Planning Board to reconsider its vote to make a significant change to the design of a bike path so as to accommodate Kollmorgen's "security" concerns. Even though Planning Board chair Stephen Gilson (pictured above) told the crowd that the bike path realignment had already been approved and could not be discussed, citizens, when they stepped to the microphone, gave city officials an earful on the subject anyway.
The approval of the Kollmorgen development was covered by many competent journalists, and I provide links at the bottom of this post.
Below, find audio of citizen Ben Spencer addressing the 5/11 joint meeting of the Planning Board and the Ordinance Committee of the City Council. He speaks about more than just the bike path: give a listen; he is an engaging speaker.
Above, Francesca Maltese, representing O'Connell Development Group for Kollmorgen.
Below, links to journalism on the topic of the Kollmorgen development, its 5/11 approval by the planning board, and the bike path controversy:
Daily Hampshire Gazette:
http://www.gazettenet.com/story/236270
MassLive:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/northampton_board_oks_kollmorg.html?category=Business
Northampton Redoubt:
http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article_print.cfm?aid=9851
On the MassDevelopment Website (a cut-and-paste of the Gazette article)
http://www.massdevelopment.com/press/05302009-01.aspx
From a local blogger:
http://hotlcommunique.blogspot.com/2008/06/gateway-to-village-hill-kollmorgen.html
Video of the entire meeting, posted on bliptv. Jesus Leyva was in attendance running Adam Cohen's flip cameras. Thank you, citizen journalists all.
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/northampton-ma-planning-board-approves-kollmorgen-for-hospital-hill-6-11-09/19539737/
Backstory on the politics of Hospital Hill development from Mark Roessler at the Advocate:
http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=8773
