Northampton_RRP_Program Kick Off Notes_March 19 2021
Community Kick O
Meeting Notes
Northampton, Massachusetts | Civic Space Collaborative
Friday, March 19th, 2021
1.Introductions
a.@ meeting: Wayne Feiden (Director of Planning and Sustainability), Annie Lesko
( Administration, Licensing & Economic Dev. Coord. ), Alan Wolf (Chief of Staff),
Michelle Moon, Karl Alexander, Claudia LaFontaine, Claudia Paraschiv
b.CSC main points of contact
i.Fiscal: Michelle Moon, Principal
ii.Day-to-day: Karl Alexander, Lead Planner
c.Northampton points of contact: Wayne Feiden - single POC
2.Primary Rapid Recovery Planning (RRP) Objectives:
a.Local: Ensure that communities have data-driven plans to aid in COVID-19 recovery
effort
i.What strengths and weaknesses have highlighted the City’s COVID response
and recovery to-date?
1.Strengths in Covid-19 response:
a.Public Realm: shared spaces, complete streets, alleyway,
converted parking, performance arts, programming
b.Lower Main Street - great implementation, “saved
businesses,” allowed for outdoor dining
c.Community Resilience Hub - assist with homlessness needs,
also emergency center, started with COVID and will be
ongoing
d.Block grants and good grant writing
e.Council enabled Mayor with “war powers act” - flexibility for
commercial / public realm regulation until November 2021
f.Transparent and publicly available info of plans on webpages
2.Weaknesses:
a.Upper Main Street - parking concerns, lack of programming
b.Public Realm: built for automobile; danger to pedestrians
ii.What opportunities and concerns during the RRP?
1.Commercial: Steadily losing retail, sense of different needs for
different segments (parking vs. not, experiential vs. spending money)
2.Funding:
a.Community resilience grant
b.Funding from COVID stimulus/recovery pot
c.Newspaper condominium grants
3.Public Realm:
a.Conflicting needs around shared spaces
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For more information, contact: Emmy Hahn / MDI/LRRP Program Coordinator Elizabeth.Hahn@state.ma.us
Charles Sanderson / MDI/LRRP Program Assistant Coordinator Charles.sanderson@state.ma.us
b.Contract with Soofa
c.Grant to remove plastic newspaper boxes
4.Critical Projects:
a.Main Street - critical project coming up, overlapping with
COVID-19
b.Probate court property transferred - 50% of income from sale
will be a good pot for community and economic development
5.Mayor not running for re-election, driving forward agenda, large
interest in shaping Main Street
b.State: Support the Commonwealth in the collection and standardization of baseline
data to measure COVID-19 impacts
i.Rapid recovery plan example: NYC (attached)
3.Review Community Agreement (Attached)
a.Study Area is confirmed
b.Updated Agreement point Phase 1 - A.5 to reflect conversation re: availability of data
a.Review & countersign by next meeting
4.Phase 1 - Diagnostic, through April
a.Baseline Data - Data Collection Guide (will send as follow-up)
i.Share existing studies, surveys and plans - as many as possible!
ii.Intro email to GIS contact
b.Business Surveying - templates for distribution materials
i.Active Broadband & Business Surveying, Robocall, City Facebook Pages
ii.Begin compiling contacts/business list for survey outreach
1.DNA, Chamber of Commerce
iii.Anchor institution contacts and/or visitation data
c.Community Presentation - late April
5.Next Steps
a.Next Meeting: March 24, 1pm: Phase 1 deliverables
Action Items
2
For more information, contact: Emmy Hahn / MDI/LRRP Program Coordinator Elizabeth.Hahn@state.ma.us
Charles Sanderson / MDI/LRRP Program Assistant Coordinator Charles.sanderson@state.ma.us
Action Lead Expected Timeline
Send Meeting Invite Karl
By next meeting 3/24
Send updated Community Agreement Karl
Send Data Collection Guide Karl
View “Picture Main Street” project CSC
Look into ability to keep contact lists private Michelle
Share existing studies, surveys and plans - as
many as possible!
Wayne
Compile contacts/business list for survey outreach Wayne
Anchor institution contacts and/or visitation data Wayne
Intro email to GIS contact Wayne
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For more information, contact: Emmy Hahn / MDI/LRRP Program Coordinator Elizabeth.Hahn@state.ma.us
Charles Sanderson / MDI/LRRP Program Assistant Coordinator Charles.sanderson@state.ma.us