A recent letter writer from Easthampton has spoken up for building housing [“Yes, in my backyard,” Gazette, April 26]. He’s probably in favor of apple pie, too. Those of us who have questioned the wisdom of building a five-story building (54 market-rate units) in our [Hawley Street and Phillips Place] neighborhood, predictably, must be NIMBYs. I don’t suppose the letterwriter attended the April 24 Planning Board public hearing at which we stated our concerns and objections: the outsized scale, the overloading of a small street with cars and traffic and the strain on the storm water system, to name a few.

We are all for adding housing to the city’s stock — and our 175-year-old neighborhood has in fact many multi-family residences, including several built very recently. While we would welcome a scaled-down version of this building, we believe (and 360-plus signers of our Change.org Save Our Neighborhood have agreed) that what is currently being proposed is just too big. If the letter writer is interested in a project like this on his street, I’m happy to provide the developer’s contact information.

Faye Wolfe

Northampton