Northampton planners OK 5-story apartment building on  Hawley St. over local opposition

NORTHAMPTON — A controversial plan for a multistory apartment building across from the former St. John Cantius Church won Planning Board approval Thursday evening, despite stiff opposition from residents who vowed to appeal the decision and retain counsel.

The proposed five-story building, by O’Connell Development Group of Holyoke, would create 54 apartment units on the corner of Phillips Place and Hawley Street. Plans for the apartment complex took shape after O’Connell abandoned an earlier proposal to convert the former St. John Cantius Church, which it also owns, into housing. The company now intends to use the old church space as a temporary construction office during the building of the apartment units. When construction is complete, the building would then be used as a leasing and amenity office for residents.

But many residents of Phillips Place and nearby streets have been vocal in their opposition to having the apartment building in their neighborhood, concerned about the building’s size, congestion via additional parking and whether it matches the aesthetic character of the neighborhood, which mainly consists of homes built in the early 1800s.

Residents who spoke during the Planning Board’s Thursday meeting accused the board of “rubber stamping” the project without a thorough investigation of whether the plans are proper for the neighborhood.

Francisco Palomo, who lives on Phillips Place, told the board that residents were willing to take legal action to prevent the building’s construction.

“Quite frankly, this building is just too large of a facility,” Palomo said. “If this special permit is approved, there will be an appeal. We’re ready to retain counsel.”

Hillary Conklin, a property owner on the nearby street of Butler Place, said she opposed the idea to bring a larger, urban-like structure into a neighborhood of mostly older buildings.

“This proposed structure appears to be a big city, unoriginal plan with little design value, plumped down on a precious vacant parcel,” Conklin said. “Ask the applicant to return a more thoughtful design that one would find on a narrow street adjacent to historic homes in our city.”

Residents were joined in their opposition by City Councilor Quaverly Rothenberg, whose Ward 3 includes Phillips Place and Hawley Street.

“This is a mess,” Rothenberg said of the project. “You’re failing us with these projects, and you are changing that neighborhood irreparably.”

Opponents of the project also took aim at board member George Kohout, who disclosed at the beginning of the meeting that he had attended a meeting of the local chapter of Strong Towns, a nonprofit that promotes urban planning projects. Kohout said they had discussed the O’Connell project as part of the meeting but that he had left the room around that time, and said he felt he didn’t need to recuse himself from discussing the issue at the Planning Board meeting.

But Dan Breindel, who lives across from the proposed apartment building and fiercely opposes the proposed development, said during public comment he had also attended the Strong Towns meeting, and he accused Kohout of not being honest about leaving the room.

“George stayed somewhere between eight and 10 minutes into a presentation about Phillips Place,” Breindel said. “I cannot consider this process to be legitimate if there is going to be this level of violation of impartiality.”

Later during the meeting, Kohout said he had felt “assaulted by the passion of the neighborhood,” during the meeting.

“This has been a hard meeting to sit through,” Kohout said. “It’s a very, very difficult decision, but my concern is that we need to provide more housing for the city.”

In response to broader criticisms, Planning Board members denied they had failed to give the project a thorough examination before approval. Member Janna White rebutted the charge that the board had acted as a rubber-stamp agency.

“I can assure you, every single person on this body has spent a lot of time thinking about this project, paying attention, considering hard everything that you’ve said and the competing priorities and challenges that exist in our city,” White said.

Those sentiments were also expressed by board member Rich Baker.

“This is not an easy decision. This is not something I take lightly. I have walked around your neighborhood, I’ve looked around and I’ve imagined what this is going to do,” Baker said of the project. “I’m torn about it, but in the end, I believe I need to serve the interest of the entire city and not just your neighborhood.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.