W3NA I-91 Subcommittee Minutes Nov 20, 2009

MINUTES OF THE WARD THREE ASSOCIATION’S I-91 SUBCOMMITTEE
The Ward three neighborhood association’s I-91 subcommittee met on Friday November 20, 2009, at Bruegger’s at 8 am

First item on the agenda was a recap and overview of the PAC meeting which took place on November 16th at JFK middle school. Both Christine and Frank reported that the meeting was informational and pretty much a show and tell. Mass Highway and their consultants presented a schedule with handouts that outlined traffic counts, accident data, and future planning. Overall, it was a good meeting; however, we felt that the consultants will want to move quickly on the planning. They suggested that at the next meeting, they will present conceptual drawings. The PAC as asked that we dedicate the next meeting to review of details of the traffic counts and accident data. The next PAC meeting is scheduled for December 7th at 6 pm in the city council chambers.

Christine and Frank were asked by the consultants to design a neighborhood walk around the Exit 19 area. The committee discussed dates and times and agreed that Saturday November, 28th at 10 am with a rain date of December 5th was appropriate. We would meet on Coolidge Ave and walk down towards the Meadows, then to the intersection of Damon Road and Bridge Street, then to the bike path parking lot and ending up in the neighborhood around Bridge Street.

At the request of the consultants, the committee then discussed the format for the new Mass Highway Project Webb site. We agreed that the site should not be a Blog, however, there should be a way that anyone asking questions on the site, that the questions and answers should be posted for anyone to view. This information will be communicated to Mass Highway consultants.

The committee agreed that there is a need for further discussion before the next PAC meeting. We agreed to meet on Thursday December, 3rd at 8 am at Franks house.

The meeting then adjourned.
Frank Werbinski

Public Meeting on the Fires in Ward 3, November 24th, 2009

COMMUNITY MEETING FOR WARD THREE

There has been a great deal of concern about fires in Ward Three lately. City Councilor Bob Reckman and the Ward Three Neighborhood Association will co-sponsor a public meeting on Tuesday, November 24, at 7:00 P.M. in the library at the Bridge St. School.

Representatives of the Police Department and Fire Department will be present. They will tell us any information they can release about the cause of the fire on Hancock St. They will offer suggestions about what residents can do to protect themselves and their property. They will also repeat that the most important things people can do is if they see anything suspicious is to call 911.

http://www.Northamptonfire.org

Electronic Recycling Collection at JFK This Saturday

Dispose of TVs, computer monitors, telephones, stereos, other appliances at JFK November 21, 9AM - 12 PM. Open to all, fees run from $2-$10 per item. See below announcement:

Winter Farmers Market in Northampton Starts November 21st

Northampton's first Winter Farmers Market will happen this and every Saturday in the basement of Thornes market from 9AM-2PM. There will be live music, cheese, maple syrup, root vegetables, greens and more. Please spread the word and come support our local farmers this winter.

Contact Andrew Huckins at andrewhuckins@gmail.com for more information. See you there!

City Council to Meet on the Best Practices Recommendations Nov 18th

SPECIAL MEETING OF NORTHAMPTON

CITY COUNCIL

Meeting of Wednesday, November 18, 2009

At 7:00 p.m.

In City Council Chambers, Wallace J. Puchalski Municipal Building, 212 Main Street, Northampton, MA

AGENDA:

Discussion of “Final Recommendations for Ensuring the Use of Locally and Nationally Accepted Best Practices in Northampton Decision-Making” Manual Presented to the Northampton City Council March 5, 2009.

No Votes Will Be Taken.

Vegetable Garden Tour: call for submissions

Don't put your gardens to bed just yet!

The Ward 3 Neighborhood Association is taking submissions for a vegetable garden tour that will take place next summer. We would like to highlight some of the food production that is happening in our neighborhoods and raise money for the association. Do you have or know of gardens in our ward that we should visit? They could be gardens that have interesting features, methods, animals, or fruit trees.

Please contact:

Lisa at ldepiano@gmail.com, or
Joanne at jom@outreach.umass.edu

if you know of a garden or would like to help us organize the event.

Meeting Minutes November 10, 2009

Board Meeting - Tuesday, November 10, 2009
7 p.m., Bridge Street School Library

Present: Fred Zimnoch, Joanne Mackiewicz, Lola Reid, Bob Reckman, Owen Freeman Daniels, Jim Nash, Gerald Budgar, Gloria Parker, Marianna McKim, Lisa DiPiano, Jennifer Remillard , Madeline Weaver Blanchette, Tim Parshall
Absent: Phillip Sullivan
Members of the Public in attendance: Bill Mackiewicz, Lisa Maloney, Dennis Helmus, Councilor Elect Angela Plassman, Councilor Elect Jesse Adams, Arnold Levinson

Meeting came to order at 7:04 pm.

00.00

1. Approval of Minutes – October 2009

Minutes were unanimously approved as presented.

00.29
2 Treasurer’s Report – Fred
Ward 3 Treasurers’ Report November 2009

1. EXPENSES: Food, mailing, advert, buzzer $31.69
2. DUES: $57. Renewals
3. BALANCES: Previous $782.03
4. NEW BALANCE: $807.34
5. LIST SERVE: for Ward 3ab = 172 added 4 members
6. LIST SERVE MESSAGES: for this period = 5

Fred also reported on the Waste Water Treatment Plant: George Brehm 11/09/09 Said installation of effluent pumps is still for January. Ned Huntley tried to get them installed sooner but apparently there are mfg delays. New effluent pumps should be in for flood season. We have not received report from US Corp of Engineers about inspection of Storm Water system. Expect that they will cite vegetation around dikes that we will need to be removed by us and perhaps neighbors too. They may also suggest that “toe drains” at bottom of dikes should be jet cleaned. Report usually comes a few months after inspection. They used to do inspection once a year now every two years and may revert back to once per year. With new laws we may have to get a new dike certification. George will be attending a dike certification class at DPW this Friday (11/13).

02:40
3. President’s Report – Jerry
Candidate Forums/Elections were very successful and we had large turnouts. Angela Plassman will take councilor seat in January. A hearty thank you went out to Bob for work all of his work on behalf of the Association and the City.

Monthly Meeting with the Mayor – Mayor is meeting with other City neighborhood groups on a monthly meeting. We want to institute a monthly meeting with the Mayor. Gerry suggested that these meetings be conducted after the monthly Board meeting so we can create an agenda of items that are relevant. Attendees would be based on the issues that would be determined at the monthly Board meeting and include the president, vice president, and councilor. Angela requested that meetings be held after 5pm.

Meadows Cleanup – Folks gathered a lot of stuff; We received free dumping rights from the City. It was suggested that we carry Watch Cards next year. The Source to Sea program under the CT River Watershed in Greenfield cleaned the area within the past month. A dumpster was chock full of trash. Bob suggested that we may want to separate metals in the future.

Update about the “Dream” mural restoration. The Northampton Art Council is the lead organization on the mural restoration. A subcommittee of Arts Council was formed and they will write a request for qualifications. People or groups will submit qualifications; 5 or 10 will be chosen. These people will be asked to submit a proposal for the sight. Jury consisting of contributors, previous artist and others who know about public art will make the decision. Jury will get feedback from public. Hopefully by Labor Day there will be a mural.

Island Road traffic situation update – Residents have not seen traffic counting in the fall season. Soccer season is (almost) over. The Soccer Clubs were to have completed a traffic count before the fall soccer season concluded and the results were to be submitted to Planning board for the meeting in January. DPW is certain that counting did not occur.

Exit 19 Advisory Committee Meeting (Nov. 16)-Monday at JFK at 7pm. Bob received an email from Mass Highway that some** borings will be taken in the vicinity of Interchange 19 in the next few weeks; this project is unrelated to the Interchange 19 project.

Voter Registration Drive (Owen) –
Doing a voter registration drive will build membership and increase voters for the two additional elections in Dec and January. The Northampton Area Young Professionals and Young Democrats of Pioneer Valley may want to move forward with other community organizations to organize this drive. It was agreed that new voters will receive a free membership to W3NA for this year.

Discussion about Tim Parshall’s interest in the Conservation Commission – Tim submitted an application to become a member of ConsCom. The ConsCom is a 5 member commission which presently needs an additional member with expertise in conservation. Tim is a forest ecologist and environmental scientist and has a strong background in hydrology force ecological systems. We suggested that he send his CV to the Board and as an addendum to his application. It was agreed that the Board would send a letter of support to the Mayor. Marianna will send a letter via email to board for review and approval with a super majority to pass: 9 'yes’.

4. Nominating/Membership Committee Report – Jim.
Membership committee met at Blue Bonnet Diner. Building membership and dues structure was discussed. There are 172 names on list serve which includes members/non-members; 2006 roster-90 paying members. The committee suggested that we request a donation instead of dues. The amount of membership will not change. A donation is required in order to vote at the annual meeting. A resident will be a provisional member until a donation is made. The Board would like to raise more $$ so we can possibly give small grants to neighborhood concerns. The membership year runs from the end of one annual meeting to the end of the next annual meeting. Membership donations maybe paid at any time but no later then the annual meeting. Membership donations for consecutive years must be in the full suggested amount. A motion was made to make these changes to the dues structure. Motion passed unanimously. If residents want to make future donations than they must meet the suggested donation.

5. Update from Bridge Street School Committee – Tim F. PTO is off to a good start and there is energy for fundraising. Tim will clarify if there is a project being planned to change pickup and drop off pattern around school. Bridge street children designed a mural

59:05
6. Update on website/web communications issues - Owen
Owen gave report on usage of website. He added a few organization links.

60:00:20
7. Sustainability Committee Update – Jim
Update on Zoning Revisions Committee The committee broke out into subcommittees for the past several months. They will be meeting with the planning board to present their work and process. They are planning a public event in January because they have been thoughtful in how we include public. Jerry said that we had not received a response from the zoning notification letter that was sent earlier in the fall. Jim refers to the letter as the process goes forward but he is unsure what effect the letter has on the process. The main function of the committee is to advise planning board on how to rezone the entire city, including King Street.

78:06
8. Traffic Calming Committee Update – Lola, Lisa Application will be reviewed on November 17th all are welcome to attend. Laura, transportation engineer gave results of traffic count. 1400/day for Pomeroy Terrace; 2000/day for Hawley Street.

80:50
9. Exit 19 of I-91 Committee Update – Jim
Frank Werbinski has been appointed by the Mayor to be on the Advisory Committee. Fred is concerned about the length of time that Mass Highway projects take to complete.

82:03
10. Report of Transportation Committee - Owen
Bike path – Fencing will be added between path and railroad bed on King Street and North street portion. There may be a concern about access.

87:43
11. Report of Business Representative – Jim nothing to report at this time.
12. Legislative Update from City Councilor – Bob nothing to report at this time.

88:03
13. Update on “Best Practices” Committee- Bob, Lisa
On November 18th there will be a special city council meeting at 7pm to discuss the best practices report.

89:14
14. Update from Ward 3 block party committee – Owen Nothing to report at this time.

89:25
15. Discussion about burning cars situation in Ward 3 – Tim F.
There are renewed issues with car burning and break-ins on Riverbank Road, Pomeroy Terrace and Island Road. There was a porch fire in a Hancock Street 2 family which started around 2am, November 9th. A committee was formed to investigate this fire and others and determine if a neighborhood meeting should be convened to discuss these concerns.

97:35
16. Report of Committee studying possible Ward 3 veggie garden tour in 2010 – Lisa/Joanne
Need list of gardens and something unique about the gardens. The committee made a request for garden suggestions from the Board. They are interested in any garden with interesting features, methods, animals, or fruit trees such as: heirloom gardens, rock, herb gardens, edible landscapes, sculptural features, walls, etc.

17. New Business
101:09
Question from Maddy:
Teenagers asked if they could be involved in Ward 3 Association. A Young Member subcommittee was formed with Maddy leading the group.

103:08
Frank Olbris of Broad Brook Coalition asked if NW3NA wanted to assume responsibility for Sheldon field. It would require that once a year we verify that Sheldon Field remains intact; for example, an industrial power project has not been built there. In order to do that W3NA needs to apply for 501c3 status. Discussion ensued on how W3NA could gain 501c3 status. Maddy said that federal guidelines are detailed and long. State filing is relatively easy. Fred will determine if we need Federal non-profit status. The board will consider this after we receive filing requirements from him.

109:07
Website issues – Owen Revisited.
Should we be linking to City Councilor’s website? Discussion was tabled until next meeting. All members are encouraged to go to the website and be prepared to discuss in December what type of links should be on W3NA’s website. The board agreed to post the monthly meeting agenda on the website.

116:16
History of architecture tour with Aaron Helfand of North Street, Exit 19 area, Williams Street and Island Road. These tours will be scheduled in the near future, perhaps over Thanksgiving weekend.

116:55
Meeting adjourned.