Marianne LaBarge City Councilor | Ward 6 | Northampton, MA

WARD 6

         CITY COUNCILOR

MARIANNE LABARGE
Text Box: Ward 6 Special Meeting Marianne LaBarge Councilor Ward 6 Plan & ReUse 1010 Ryan Road Keiter Builders development September 24, 2024 Attending: Scott Keiter- CEO Keiter Builders Carolyn Misch- Planning & Sustainability City of Northampton Chief John D. Cartledge - Chief of Police City of Northampton Garrick M Perry - Councilor at Large Marianne LaBarge - Councilor Ward 6 Marianne LaBarge speaker *Noise *Grinding *Neighbors *Truck Traffic *Housing affordability *Safety *Schools * Tried to correct the meeting announcement and dates that were incorrectly distributed by Keiter Development *Keiter is a reputable developer *Keiter was very cooperative in having the meeting Scott Keiter *Property was scary - left by Willard’s *Brookstone Meadow Keiter development - High level overview *Jeff Squire - site plan details *Questions about the project *Planning board in a month - Questionable *5 boards on easels showing the planning by Berkshire Design *Jill Keiter *Marquis family - realtor *Nomily family *All participants in the project *Home on Sylvester Road - Scott *Business Hatfield - construction materials *Office West Springfield *Residential apartments close to Ryan Road *Repurpose the rest *History - Willards sold to investors in marijuana facility - put it on the market *Concerns about the negative history of Willard’s *Bold border 44 acres *2 separate buildings 8 apartments each *Mappings done by Berkshire Design *Green land conservation on mapping *Offices white area on mapping *Look residential as enter the property *Back off the property line *Parking down behind the buildings apartments *Keep curb cuts *North - public parking for recreational use - 4 to 5 cars *Con Ed easement to the gate road for the solar field *On the map the Darker green is wet lands *Wet lands protected *Old Willard Road after the bridge is the white area Willard area - on the map *No quarry, mine, or excavate (there is going to be Willard like processes) *Crush the material for resale to recycle *No dumping *It’s gated *Bring our own stuff in to crush it *Hatfield Construction - current used for construction materials *Site work and excavation *Generate material from projects to process, organize, and resell *Stumps, rubble, concrete *5 acre site *Multiple piles are rubble *Asphalt - brick - concrete *Program to recycle the material and materials they generate EPA *Process crush *1 time every 90 days *Only a couple of days *10 days 4 times annually = 40 days *Truck in material with loader sift process and truck *O to 20 truck loads a day *Application with traffic study with Willard comparison Neighbor *Willard 10 wheelers constantly on road *Traffic increased *Processing - Weekends? No only (M-F) days only Jeff Squire - Berkshire Design Group *Involved with Just Healthy *Familiarity with property *3 or 4 years since any activity *Resulted in more wetlands *Previously excavated now wetlands *Connected to conservation land ? *Commercial is the old pit *Currently permitted *Growth permitted - removed the steel structures, buildings *Open space *Residential - by Ryan Road *Left the vegetation, (asphalt to aid water conservation) *2 - 1,000 sq foot pad for materials *Developed in the future *Bolder piles at the site *Use area outside conservation area *Take up with planning board *One pile boulders on city property working with Carolyn Misch Dan Bonham - Douglas architects *Under 1000 square feet 2 bedroom *All electric *Can accept solar *Heat pumps *HP accessible on 1 st floor *Similar to Park Street in Florence *Water pressure ? Resolve any concerns with DPW *Tennant Parking behind the buildings *Main access road 26 feet wide, narrowed to 24 road *Trucks and cars use same road *Bring in equipment for crushing 4 times a year *Bring equipment out when done - in and out with crushing equipment *Private road *Contractor plows maintains road *Con Edison easement to road too *How to link parking area to easement for public access to city owned conservation land *Linking parking lot and city property Neighbor *Cutting off access to 90 % of property *Who has permission to access to property road *Neighbor using trails and community using it *Public access is private and not allowing access? Carolyn Misch *Gate at top of Ryan Road 150 acres *Intention controlled access *People were accessing it from the neighborhood *Keiter proposing additional land, permanent restriction land, to provide access *Not concluded what the path might be *Up to property owner. *Public access *Not the safest place to access *Need safe place to access *Road for Con Ed trucks and equipment *Bridge the property owner needs to maintain it *Users of operation and trail users are safe *Zoning board permit for sound traffic mitigation *Board permit conditions *Enforceable thru the city *Ground rules for use of the property *Neighbor - Solar people where are you allowed or not *Public access - Cardinal way - Parsons brook *Pedestrian bridge next to the truck bridge Chris Stratton - Neighbor *Neighbor existing toxic materials? Asbestos Scott *Marijuana project 185,000 square foot building; sub consultants *Test pits *Extensive testing - bank requires additional testing *Willard’s did things - not allowed today *Equipment for earth moving *Metal structure Neighbor *Lady Slipper Lane - kid with asthma - concern *Noise *Crushing - loud? *Bring forward the decibels - what that will sound like *Not breaking lifting and moving (not a sound issue?) *Planning board Marianne LaBarge *Crushing - what time start? *The equipment setting up and break down *10 business days crush - need to discuss start time and end time *Time level *School time - crushing during school hours Scott *Full application that will be public - to read all of this materials *No more than 3 trucks an hour Neighbor - Kevin Ryan *Increased traffic on Ryan Road *Apartments and quarry operation 3 trucks and hour Scott *Jeff and his team to do an official traffic study Neighbor *About crushing , stumps, there and bringing stuff there Scott *40 business days a year to crush Neighbor *Keiter proposal - mention - deeded marijuana - would you rather have that? *Very sensitive property to compare to the marijuana facility *Hold you to the highest standards alone *Marijuana went bankrupt and not coming in again *Your best without the history. Scott *Buying the property from that group *Currently permitted for the marijuana plant *Bringing it back to original use with restrictions Neighbor *Affordable or rental rates Scott *Market rate Neighbor *Environmental impact on the land *Not used and has wild life moved in *What impact on the wildlife *Pesticide usage on grounds that could potentially leach into the wet lands Scott *The project needs to make financial sense *Recycle the materials left there. Neighbor - Ashley Taylor 1040 Ryan Road *It’s overgrown now and a new habitat. Scott *Will consider Licensed surveyors *Environmental engineers *Wet land scientists *State and city laws Ashley Taylor 1040 Ryan Road - *8/9-16/2021 traffic 29,800 + (during covid could be affected) *Can do a newer study *89 Ryan Road *Over speed limit in that area *Update before it goes to planning Neighbor 880 Ryan Road *Speeding on Ryan Road *Halfway in-between the point there on Ryan Road Chief John D, Cartledge *22,700 vehicles *30 speed limit *35 average *Highest 80 mph Carolyn Misch *Requests studying traffic *Design phase Ryan Road *Traffic study outside professionals *Consultants - working on speeding throughout the city *Address the speeding *Mitigating quick trips to propose design solutions *Bottom of the hill Ryan Road at Pine Valley - drive way and the road - dangerous *Donna working on it *Car going 75 to 80 mph - Neighbor *The road is not wide enough to accommodate the increased traffic and use in the neighborhoods. - dog walkers - walkers - cyclists - *No parking at Pine Grove golf course donated to the city - conservation land Neighbor *Day to day operations & material on 1010 Ryan Road ? *What will it look like? * *Intermittent or result of how much building materials are being generated? Scott *One person and a machine Neighbor *Bringing materials from construction site * *Crushing to 40 days a year * *On the other days sorting grading material in separate bays *Shakers what the decibel level will be? *Operation that is inherently noisy. Neighbor *Recycling materials not understood as a quarry *Operations of a quarry Neighbor *Libertarian *Apartment OK *Quarry - daily operation are not what was presented Neighbor *Septic sewer line * Scott *DPW as part of permit *Preliminary discussion *Amply capacity for the development Neighbor *How many cars ? Scott *Recreation area 6 spaces *Rocks were repurposed to crush by Keiter *2 concrete pads one for crushing and one for metal structure Scott *Impervious surfaces design to it *Right pad garage *Left pad to sort materials *Residential is a year project start in spring Marianne LaBarge *Problems we have had before *Noise decibel level *Grinding *Processing *Find a way to understand it *Got to go to Planning - concerns are here *Planning board to make a decision here *How many trucks West Farms Road, Ryan Road, Westhampton Road *Speeding Ryan Road, West Farms Road, Westhampton Road *Health *Safety *Not affordable apartments Scott *DEP requires this at least 40 days grinding *Decibel reading - Jeff to get the reading to the application *Still in design phase - economics of the project Carolyn Misch - *Housing of all types - affordable housing get state and federal subsidies not earning more than 80,000 a year *The cost of construction is same 400 - 45o square foot *Habitat For Humanity, developer, less not paying for labor *Price the size of unit *Location *Cluster permit - clusters units together shared walls, systems, cuts costs *Hard to imagine how high cost of housing has risen *Some costs are smaller of unit is smaller *Land acquisition *Cost of labor *Cost of materials *Pay their employees *Make financial sense *Habitat For Humanity on Burts Pit Road Neighbor *Like going back 40 years ago Neighbor *See the pit from her house *Processing what about the air quality? *Told there would not be a gravel pit *OSHA regulations *Not impact the people abutting the pit Neighbor *OSHA only labor safety- not the environmental impact to the neighborhood Scott *Dust mitigation strategies Neighbor *15 years in business *Going to grow *More materials *Ruins the investment in our homes *Now a gravel pit with processing