Bradbury Comment.pdf12/6/22, 10:34 AM City of Northampton Mail - Response to planned buildings at YMCA 24C-19
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ik=fec0f72d97&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1751478884595864953%7Cmsg-f%3A17514788845958…1/1
Sarah LaValley <slavalley@northamptonma.gov>
Response to planned buildings at YMCA 24C-19
1 message
Nancy Bradbury <nbradbur@smith.edu>Tue, Dec 6, 2022 at 10:26 AM
To: "slavalley@northamptonma.gov" <slavalley@northamptonma.gov>
Cc: Scott Bradbury <sbradbur@smith.edu>
Neighbor’s comments on plans from YMCA, Map Id 24C-19
Dear Planning Board Members,
We are the Y’s neighbors on the Woodlawn Avenue side; we are pro-youth, pro-exercise, and pro-Y, but we
nevertheless have some serious concerns about the proposed addi on of three permanent outdoor
exercise features to the Y’s rela vely small plot, located in a peaceful residen al neighborhood.
Our greatest concern is amplified noise. Outdoor exercise began in the pandemic, and we saw no evidence
of supervision of the audio that accompanied it, with some instructors blas ng speakers so loudly that it
was difficult to hear or make ourselves heard over Zoom while working from home. The Y hosts a few
loudly amplified events per year, which we consider to be a reasonable part of their mission, and we enjoy
the sounds of children playing. Our concern is that this plan for increased outdoor classes (why else create
3 new spaces?) and increased use of loudspeakers threatens to make the Y intrusive in a way it has never
been before.
We are also concerned about lack of control over these open outdoor facili es, especially late at night.
The present basketball court o en a racts a late-night crowd in summer that can disrupt our sleep with
ball-slamming, shouted profanity, added light, and boomboxes. When we moved in next door, the fenced-
in court had padlocks and a sign saying, “This facility closes at dusk,” which was never enforced un l the
court was locked in the pandemic and late-night players climbed the fence. We hope the planning board
will ask the Y how it intends to control this late-night disrup on in its new unfenced “large pavilion
airnasium” to be located closer to more houses.
We hope the board will consider that increased amplified noise in our neighborhood is not simply a
“NIMBY” concern about our own quality of life. The Y sits directly across the street from the most beau ful
sec on of Child’s Park, a peaceful green space enjoyed by people from all over the city, meant by its
founder to serve as “a place of rest and quiet recrea on for the benefit of the people of Northampton”
(Hampshire Life 8/4-12/1989). Green spaces are becoming rarer in our city, and in addi on to increased
noise, so much new infrastructure will shrink the open green space at the Y that currently extends the
breathing room provided by the park.
We have lived next to the Y for twenty years, and aside from the late-night basketball, we have found it a
good neighbor. We hope that the board will help it to remain a good neighbor by addressing the nega ve
impacts of the proposed plan on a green and tranquil part of Northampton important to many more than
just its property owners.
Yours sincerely,
Nancy and Sco Bradbury
95 Woodlawn Ave, Northampton