Coons public comment - 61 warner12/1/2020 City of Northampton Mail - Commission meeting tonight - 61 Warner St. and NuWay Homes
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Sarah LaValley <slavalley@northamptonma.gov>
Commission meeting tonight - 61 Warner St. and NuWay Homes
1 message
Martha Coons <coonsbein5@gmail.com>Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 4:29 PM
To: slavalley@northamptonma.gov, ajarrett@northamptonma.gov
Cc: cmisch@northamptonma.gov
21 Warner St.
Florence MA 01062
Ms. LaValley and colleagues:
Please share this letter with members of the Historical Commission in time for their meeting tonight, November 30.
I am writing to express my alarm at the rapid destruction of the historic and socio-economic character of my
neighborhood, Bay State, due to the unrestrained actions of a developer, Nu-Way Homes. In particular, Nu-way is
planning to demolish a small, 19th century house at 61 Warner St. in order to cram three new houses onto the lot. Already
the lot down the street from my house, 170 Federal St., is undergoing the construction of the first of four large houses
which are planned for that space, previously occupied by just one, small home. Another similar teardown is set for 39
Landy St., a similar historic residential street in our neighborhood, and an open lot on beautiful Baker Hill Road is set for
construction of at least one large, new home.
The Historic Commission needs to do what it can right away to pause the development of the lot at 61 Warner, as well as
other properties that Nu-Way or other developers may have their eye on. Because there was little or no notice to
neighbors prior to the approval of these projects, and none is required by law, we had no time to research and to speak
up about the historic significance of the old homes before the projects were approved.
That significance derives from Bay State’s history as home to workers, lower management, and perhaps some owners or
upper managers, of the Northampton Cutlery mill located on the Mill River in the heart of the neighborhood. For example,
my home at 21 Warner was occupied for almost a hundred years by the descendants of John Joseph Schulda, who spent
his career at the Cutlery, having previously been a foreman at a cutlery in Turners Falls. Bay State is filled with similar
small, affordable 19th century homes – ours was only a five-room house when we bought it in 2000. 61 Warner appears to
have been added onto a couple of times, but it is still small, appears to date to about the same time as our house, and, I
suspect, may have a similar history.
Bay State has been known over the years as an affordable, walkable neighborhood where families stay for multiple
generations and where everyone knows their neighbors. (Not that everyone has always felt welcome – African-Americans
and some later immigrants no doubt have experienced prejudice here as elsewhere.) There are large trees along the
street, woods behind many houses, and toward the top of some of our streets such as Warner and Baker Hill Road.
Unless action is taken now to preserve the old houses that are here, and prevent the rapid infill with very similar, very
large, very expensive new houses, that character will be lost.
It is unfortunate that we as residents have not so far undertaken the challenging, but so worthwhile, task of applying to be
for a National Historic District designation, which would have given your Commission, and we neighbors, more power in
the current situation. As someone who has studied and shared the history of Massachusetts’ mill workers and their
families as a museum curator and public historian, I could have been active on such a project – and still could in my
retirement, if there is much of our historic neighborhood left to preserve. Please consider me willing to volunteer in any
way to make the history of these wonderful homes and their residents known. And please step in forcefully tonight to stop
61 Warner from becoming just another crowded, suburban-style chunk of what used to be a unique neighborhood.
Sincerely,
Martha Coons (with my husband Tom Bein)
12/1/2020 City of Northampton Mail - Commission meeting tonight - 61 Warner St. and NuWay Homes
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