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Hankowski Letter 8-24-23Alan Hankowski 24 Crafts Avenue Northampton, MA 01060 August 24, 2023 City of Northampton Planning Board 210 Main Street Northampton, MA 01060 RE: 27 Crafts Avenue Site Plan for Map ID 31D-262 Public Hearing I own the building at 24 Crafts Avenue, a 2-story building, where I have my accounting office on the street level and have three residential apartments on the second floor. The proposed building at 27 Crafts Avenue would be approximately 40 feet from my building. The site is and has been historically open space and a hillside now planted with wild flowers. This is aesthetically pleasing, enhances the quality of life downtown, and is especially pleasing to visitors approaching from the Old South Street area who pause to admire the hillside plantings . It provides valuable natural light and air into my office and the residential apartments in my building as well as for the adjacent buildings. The permit application says that the proposed building will be compatible with the scale, height, and mass of existing buildings in downtown. In fact, the Crafts Avenue neighborhood is 2- story buildings, set back from the street with a sidewalk. This proposed building is a 6-story building and built directly on the street, which actually makes it appear to be even taller. There is no property in downtown Northampton built directly on the street and it is not a good precedent to start. Because the proposed building is so close and so tall, all privacy would be lost in the residential apartments on Crafts Avenue. There are height restrictions of 70 feet on buildings in Northampton. The proposal says the height would be 66 feet 7 inches above grade average. That measurement calculation is because of the measuring technique calculated by averaging heights at various vantage points on the building. From any vantage point, the building will appear excessively tall and out of place, especially because the Crafts Avenue area is 2-story buildings, and this proposal does not meet the fundamental purpose of zoning to ensure harmony and preserve real estate values. I am not in favor of this building as proposed. My primary concern is that the structural integrity of my building be maintained. In addition, the stability of the surrounding area buildings, including the historic City Hall building, must be maintained. Because of the significant amount of excavation and construction that will be required, my questions are: Will there be excavation below grade on Crafts Avenue? I so, what type of foundations are planned? What support systems are planned to be used for the hillside? Have borings been done? Will there be pile driving? What provisions are there for monitoring displacements and vibrations? What provisions are there for pre-construction surveys, in-progress, and post-construction surveys of my building? What is the plan for maintaining safe access to my office and the apartments all during construction? This site was previously in proximity to the gas company facility. Has any survey been done to see if the soil is contaminated? Many times, there are sites that are just not suitable for development of a particular project at that location at a reasonable cost, so much investigation and analysis is required to make that determination. This is not a simple location to build on. Have other more suitable locations in downtown been looked at? Thank you. Sincerely, Alan Hankowski