A number of residents in Northampton, Massachusetts, are voicing concern over a proposed housing project that could see a five-story development go up by a former church in a neighborhood of much smaller houses.
Developers who have already built housing at the site of the old St. John Cantius church off Hawley Street are now looking to add more on its former parking lot.
On Thursday, the project was on the Northampton Planning Board agenda – one of two five-story housing projects involving former church parking lots. Presenting on the proposal was Sarah Stine, president of the Holyoke-based O'Connell Development Group, which is seeking both site plan approval and a special permit.
“The redevelopment of this parking lot will consist of the construction of a five-story building, creating 54 new, market-rate rental apartments,” she said during a presentation. “The first floor, the ground level, will be a garage, providing 25 parking spaces for residents.”
O’Connell purchased the church grounds in 2020, later demolishing the rectory and putting up 12 condominiums beside the Roman Catholic church that dates back to the early 1900s.
Now, they’re seeking to build on the asphalt lot next to it, which goes along Phillips Place. Due to the project’s footprint exceeding 10,000 sq. ft., (Stine says it’s 11,537), a special permit is required per zoning rules, according to the developer.
It’s a proposed structure that at least one neighbor referred to as a “monstrosity.” Public comment on the proposal ran two hours, mostly featuring residents either living on Philips or nearby, including Colin Hofmeister – who said while he’s not opposed to dense housing, the project’s renderings show his privacy would take a hit if the proposal’s built as is.
“I will be faced with 44 windows. The original plan said 15.5 feet - I guess it's like closer to 28 feet: irrespective. They'll be looking directly into my property, over my property…” he told the board, referring to the distance between the project's building footprint and his house. “I have skylights. Everything was designed for the southwest facing to capture light. It'll be devastating. I don't think the six-foot privacy fence and shrubs they’re going to put [in] is going to really mitigate anything, and I'm not trying to be a wise guy..."
Much of the surrounding area is filled with houses, mostly two-stories and multi-family – filling much of the area between train tracks that run through the city and nearby farms.
Philips Place is relatively narrow and short to begin with and while it has its fair share of multi-story houses, most public commenters, like Matthew Hoey of nearby Butler Place, said what’s on the table appears to be too big.
“We saw the condos that were built and we expected more of those - we really were happy for them, and we wanted to see it go well,” he said. “Now, we get this egregious, massive, behemoth of a building, and this isn't a NIMBY thing, we know we need more housing. Ideally, there'd be some affordable units. But, if any of you lived in our neighborhood and you knew that a building the size of, give or take, the size of Thornes [Marketplace] was going to be dropped in your neighborhood, you would not be in favor of this.”
Other concerns ranged from trees that were previously cut down around the lot, potential traffic, and the building’s architecture – a modern apartment complex next to a brick church and numerous older houses.
Stine, who stood to answer the planning board’s questions, noted during her initial presentation that trees would be added, potentially adding privacy. She also responded to apparent concerns over just who would likely end up in the potential, ADA-compliant building.
“I don’t know who will live in these units, but based on our market research, I have some guesses,” she said, after previously explaining the development would not be specifically senior or student housing. “Seniors … who are downsizing, but want to stay in Northampton, nurses, doctors, other medical professionals who work at Cooley Dickinson, young people in their 20s and 30s who are new to the area or saving to buy a home. People who work at the businesses in Northampton and right now have very limited options to live where they work and transplants moving from different parts of the country."
She added that the building wouldn't utilize broker fees and that leasing would be handled directly by O'Connell's affiliated property management group, Appleton Corporation.
Current floor plans include room for four studio units, 33 one-bedrooms and 17 two-bedrooms.
Questions from the planning board were more focused on site specifications, like how biking infrastructure would be handled, business involving the building’s roof and questions about sidewalks.
Acknowledging the passion and concerns of the residents, board members like George Kohout described the difficulty of wanting to preserve the “architectural warmth of a neighborhood” while also providing housing immediately and for people in the future.
Also touching on architecture and design was board member Janna White.
“I think that it's not realistic, not necessary, not even necessarily desirable to expect a building that's proposed to be built in 2025 to feel like a building that was built in 1840 and that, throughout the city, we need to be thinking about how to, if we really want to, tackle the housing crisis,” White said. “There are many things that need to happen, but one of those things, I think, is that we need to think about the integration of modern construction.”
Seeking to give developers an opportunity to respond to various questions, the planning board opted to continue the hearing in May.
