2024.01.11 Staff Report.pdf
January 11 2024 Staff Report
To: Conservation Commission From: Sarah LaValley
RE: Staff Report, January 11 2024 Commission Meeting
5:30 PM Notice of Intent for garage construction within riverfront (CT River).
Richard Watling. 129 Riverbank Rd, Map ID 25-026
Consistency with the WPA and Northampton Wetlands Ordinance, Staff Recommendations:
310 CMR 10.05 (4) requires that “If the applicant is not a landowner of the Project Locus, the applicant shall obtain written permission from a landowner(s) prior to filing a Notice of Intent for
proposed work.” This is necessary and important since an Order becomes part of the chain of title
for a property. This application involves an adjacent property that is not owned by the applicant.
The Commission was provided with a purchase and sale for the small strip, but this expired in
October 2022, and did not provide any authorization to apply for a Notice of Intent for the
involved property.
Continue the hearing, without substantive discussion, until January 25 at 5:30 PM.
Memorandum of Agreement with NEMBA, Saw Mill Hills
Update: New England Mountain Bike Association has been informally . Staff met with NEMBA representatives and mountain bikers in late fall to discuss prior and planned work, and cooperation
on a ‘Friends of’ type group. Similar to existing MOU with other partner groups, this will allow
NEMBA to organize volunteer activities on single track trails. It will allow some activities to take
place without permission, such as basic maintenance, and others with City cooperation, permission,
or request, such as trail closure or relocation. A finalized MOU will be distributed for review and
signatures at an upcoming meeting.
Request for Order of Conditions Extension. Northampton Airport, Old Ferry Rd. DEP
File 246-0551
The only resource area involved in this Order of Conditions is bordering land subject to flooding to the
Connecticut River. The applicant has received several extensions in the past, Changes in the small
airport industry have resulted in delays to the planned expansion project. An extension should not
have a negative impact on any of the interests of the Act or Ordinance, since BLSF is the only involved
resource; staff recommends issuing an extension to allow the project to utilize banked compensatory
flood storage.