Soccer Support Lett
Carolyn Misch
From:Peter Serafino [pserafino413@gmail.com]
Sent:Wednesday, September 30, 2009 5:13 PM
To:Mayor of Northampton
Cc:Carolyn Misch
Subject:Soccer Fields
Dear Mayor Higgins,
My daughter plays soccer on an under-12 girls team for Northampton Soccer Club (NSC). I support NSC's
continued use of the Oxbow soccer fields. I urge you and the Planning Board to support NSC's continued use of
soccer fields at the Oxbow until such time as an alternative location, or alternative means of access to the fields
can be secured.
I am certainly sympathetic to the concerns of Island Road residents regarding automobile traffic on the street.
However, the parking lot at the head of Island Road is not a viable solution to the problem. Even with the best
efforts of NSC families, it is extremely difficult to modify the behavior of families of visiting teams.
Soccer is a leading sport for girls and it is important that Northampton have accessible athletic facilities to
enable girls to participate in sports. As my daughter's team travels to other Pioneer Valley communities,
particularly Ludlow, Agawam, and Amherst, I am impressed by the commitment of those towns to excellent,
easily accessible soccer fields for their teams. I believe that NSC provides a great service to Northampton
youth, and further believe that the City should work with NSC to craft a long-term solution to the problem of
soccer field access.
Sincerely
Peter A. Serafino
19 Ladyslipper Lane
Northampton, MA 01062
1
Carolyn Misch
From:Cathi Hanauer [chanauer@comcast.net]
Sent:Wednesday, September 30, 2009 12:35 PM
To:Carolyn Misch
Subject:for the members of the planning and zoning board of Northampton
Hello Carolyn Misch--I'd be grateful if you could forward this letter to the Planning Board. Thanks very much.
Planning Board Members:
We are writing to identify ourselves as one of the many families in Northampton who benefit from using the soccer fields
at the Oxbow Marina, and to ask that you support the continued use of these fields by the soccer clubs, despite the
opposition by Island Road residents who object to the traffic this brings to their street.
Our daughter (now a student at NHS) played soccer for several years with the Northampton Soccer Club. Through
soccer, she developed physical skill, confidence, discipline, and the ability to be part of a team. She met kids she wouldn’t
otherwise have known and learned how to be part of a community outside of school. Our family attended her games, met
the other families, and greatly enjoyed all of it. Now our son (age 11) is playing with NSC and reaping the same benefits.
Through soccer, he is becoming a team player and a skilled athlete, building social skills and confidence. Soccer is a
healthy, wonderful community event with myriad benefits for all involved, children and adults alike.
Over the years, we have watched the Island Road residents become increasingly unhappy about traffic on their road,
which
(unfortunately) is the only way to get to the many and beautiful Oxbow fields. They have made numerous attempts to slow
or reduce this traffic, from speed signs to fines for speeding cars to requests that people carpool to, most recently, asking
that field users park at the auxiliary lot close to a mile from the playing fields. All of these requests and conditions have
been met with great effort to comply by the soccer parents. I myself have become extremely aware of both the need to
carpool from home (which we always do now with at least one other child) and the need to drive very slowly on Island
Road. We and many others have parked in the lot and many times I have observed it to be full to overflowing with cars.
Mostly through the use of carpooling, traffic on that road has been significantly reduced (by 30%) and slowed since the
residents first complained. The auxiliary lot has been much less of a positive for all involved, as it requires that many
children walk very far, often in the dark, on a narrow sidewalk-less road, to get to and from a playing field. Still, virtually
every parent on our team has made an effort to comply with it whenever possible. Yet the Island Road residents still are
not placated. In fact, their recent cease and desist order request makes it clear that their ultimate goal is to eliminate use
of these soccer fields altogether.
As a parent (and homeowner) myself, I deeply understand not wanting an overload of fast traffic in your community. But I
also understand that when you buy or rent a home on a public road, part of the deal is that there will be public traffic on
that road. Both the marina and the soccer fields have been there for a long time. With all due respect to the residents of
Island Road, they have no right to keep children (whose parents have made an enormous effort to respect their
needs) off the Oxbow soccer fields purely because they don’t want cars on their street.
I hope you will consider the removal of that auxiliary lot as a condition of the permit that allows the soccer clubs to use the
Oxbow fields. And I certainly hope you will support the request of the many soccer families in Northampton to continue to
use the Oxbow.
Thanks for your consideration of this important issue.
Cathi Hanauer & Daniel Jones
82 Harrison Avenue
1