revised plans with duplexes letter to ConCom 7-16-09
TOFINO ASSOCIATES, INC. NORTHERN AVENUE HOMES, INC.
(413) 256-0321
31 Campus Plaza Road, Hadley, MA 01035
July 16, 2009
Northampton Conservation Commission City Hall
212 Main Street Northampton, MA 01060
RE: Revised Plans and Draft Declaration of Restrictions and Covenants Notice of Intent
North Street Condominiums
Map 25C, Parcels 12 & 17
Dear Members of the Conservation Commission,
Enclosed please find revised plan sets for our North Street Condominium project. The total
number of dwelling units has been reduced by three for a total of 20 units, including the two units
on Northern Avenue. The townhouse blocks have all been de-massed and redesigned as
duplexes, which results in more pervious surface in the upland areas and less overall site impact
by virtue of decreased density. We have also changed the specification for the walkway located
just a few feet outside the edge of the 35 foot no disturb zone (from unit 4 to unit 18) to a gravel rather than a paved walkway.
As the site plan was being re-designed, we reviewed the planting plan and plant schedule. We
have made some minor changes and additions to improve the quality and variety of plant species on site. Certain species of shrubs were replaced with other
species, including substituting
Arrowwood for the pussy willows and Clethra for the mountain holly. Tree substitutions include
replacing red maples with either pin oaks or sugar maples, depending on the location, and including some swamp white oaks in the buffer planting.
We are also including in this submission, the revised Draft Declaration of Restrictions and
Covenants. The revisions pertinent to the Conservation Commission can be found in the sections
“Stormwater Management” under Dry Wells, “Snow Removal and Management Plan,” and
“Escrow Account,” where we increased the Escrow amount for repairs to stormwater related structures to $12,000.00.
The revised section on Dry Wells discusses the maintenance responsibilities for the in-line
downspout filter baskets, which will be used on all downspouts in the project. They are easily
available and straightforward to install. A detail of the downspout filter is shown on the plans, but we have also included an information sheet with this
submittal.
Regarding the Snow Removal and Management section, we looked into the availability of sand
without salt for deicing and found that all commercially available sand mixtures contain
approximately 20% salt (sodium chloride). In order to reduce the amount of sodium chloride on
site, we are proposing the use of a liquid deicer, such as those used by both the City of
Northampton and the Town of Amherst in their downtowns. The liquid deicers are composed of
Magnesium Chloride combined with the grain and/or sugar-based byproducts of the distilling
process and are completely non-toxic to plants and animals, non-corrosive, and are generally
considered to be environmentally superior to conventional salt. We are also proposing that
commercially available sand mixtures with salt be used on site for paved sidewalks since there
are no local vendors who can apply the liquid deicers to sidewalks at this time.
We look forward to discussing our revised plans with the Commission at our hearing next Thursday.
Sincerely,
Douglas A. Kohl, President Tofino Associates, Inc. Northern Avenue Homes, Inc.