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Homeowners Association Planning Board Presentation - CleanEmerson Way Homeowners Association Request for Subdivision Approval Amendment Background on Emerson Way Subdivision: •Located off Burt’s Pit Road •Established in 2003 and originally known as “The Oaks Residential Subdivision” •Contains 56 lots, 55 of which are improved by single-family residences •Home to 140+ residents, 30 of which are young children or teens under 14 years old Subdivision History: This first appeared in the 2002-08-22 preliminary planning board approval. The original plans were for higher density and multi-family condominium complex which may have been the reason for inserting the prohibition against petitioning the City to take the street since this prohibition is commonly seen in condominium type complexes Carolyn Misch also indicated that water pressure for firefighting was a significant concern although this concern is no different than Ridgeview and they did not have a similar prohibition. Documents also indicate that the DPW was concerned about cost of extending services to Emerson Way. Although, again, this is no different than other subdivisions that did not have the same prohibition Biker and walker safety is an issue since City ordinances and restrictions that apply to public ways cannot be enforced on a private road and the HOA has no way to enforce public safety restrictions on visitors Why is this amendment necessary? Safety: Emerson Way is widely used by residents & families from other neighborhoods (including children and seniors) for walking, playing, cycling, dog walking and other activities and has a school bus stop and special needs van pick -up point The City has proposed that Emerson Way become part of the “Northampton One Trail,” connecting the bike trails between Ice Pond Drive and Florence Road to the segment between Burt’s Pit Road and Brookside Road The HOA, City and police have no way of enforcing traffic laws or city ordinances that apply to public streets on Emerson Way Fairness: Emerson Way homeowners pay the same taxes as other Northampton residents but must also pay for the maintenance of their road The condition is not uniformly applied in Northampton: other, similar subdivisions, such as Ice Pond Drive, Ridgeview Drive and Sovereign Way are not subject to this condition There is no clear basis for imposing the condition so residents cannot address the underlying reason. It appears that the condition may have originally been added when Emerson Way was proposed as an 85 -unit condominium complex. Daily Hampshire Gazette, April 2, 2002, “Condo plans make progress, Burt’s Pit Road proposal calls for two-story units” Appendix Questions & Answers Why are you doing this now? We were waiting until the subdivision was substantially complete and until the developer assigned full rights and responsibilities to the HOA which he did in July of 2022. . Didn’t everyone know that they were agreeing to an irrevocable condition when they bought their houses? Most of the residents may have been aware of it but many didn’t understand the implications and others were told that it would be a relatively simple process to have the City take the street. And none of us realized that neither the City, nor the police would enforce any City public-way ordinance or traffic law on our street. This was a huge surprise to us. Questions & Answers We don’t have any record of safety incidents. Why do you think this is a problem? While there may not be many items in the police records, we don’t want to wait until someone is injured before taking action. Our street is becoming more popular with children, walkers, dog walkers and others and with the Northampton One Trail coming through the subdivision the opportunity for vehicle/ pedestrian incidents is going up exponentially. We’ve had some close calls, including a parked car that got sideswiped in September 2021. This didn’t get reported to the police since whoever did it was long gone. While we have done some things to slow traffic down including painting a crosswalk, putting up a crosswalk sign (and replacing it when it gets run over), children playing signs and a radar sign, a visit by the police is far more powerful than when one of our residents speaks to a speeder. Are you aware that as a private road you can install whatever traffic calming measures you feel are appropriate? Yes. We have painted a crosswalk, installed a pole mounted crosswalk sign, installed a speed indicating radar sign and placed a crosswalk sign in the middle of the street (we’re on our 3’rd or 4’th one.) These have helped. However, unlike every City resident on public streets, what we don’t have is the ability to enforce any rules on drivers, cyclists, skateboarders and others who are not residents and subject to our HOA. Questions & Answers We’ve heard that the City is concerned about the water booster system and this is unique to your subdivision. We view a potential street taking and the water booster pump system as separate issues and will treat them as two separate discussions with the City. While we would love to have access to City expertise on the water system, the same arguments that we presented today don’t apply. Also, today we are not asking for the City to take anything. We just want the right to talk with them and we have no doubt that the water system will be part of the discussions. We recognize the concern from past conversations and think we have a couple workable options to discuss with the City of we are allowed to petition.