NORTHAMPTON — Plans for construction of 12 all-electric homes in a new residential area off North Street are getting mixed reviews, with some neighbors critical of the development that proponents say matches the city’s sustainability goals.

The units, to be built behind a wetlands area near the Norwottuck Rail Trail, would extend View Avenue, a small road off North Street, into two dead-end streets featuring the 12 units. Nine of the units would be 768 square feet in size and the remaining would be about 1,300 square feet, with the additional space used for car ports. The area itself can accommodate up to 18 cars.

The units are proposed by Sovereign Builders of Westfield and designed by the Berkshire Design Group of Northampton. Jeff Squire, an architect with Berkshire, told the Planning Board on June 13, that the new housing units meet Northampton’s sustainability goals for providing affordable, high-density housing for mixed incomes with small, energy-efficient homes.

“This certainly achieves all of those [goals],” Squire said. “We approached this project in a way that really tried to focus and enhance the resource areas on the site and the open space, being cognizant of the adjacent residential homes and properties and not overdevelop this property.”

Other features of the proposed area include sheds for bike storage, street lamps that align with the city’s ordinance for preventing light pollution and an outdoor community space described by Squire as a “glorified fire pit.”

Squire also told the board that several Norway spruce trees in the area would need to be removed to make way for the units, and they would replace around a quarter of the trees while paying the city for the remainder, as required per city law.

During the board meeting, several residents raised concerns about the project. Paige Bridgens, who said she lived near the proposed units, said she feared that cutting down trees and replacing them with asphalt could lead to higher temperatures in the neighborhood, a particular concern due to ongoing climate change.

“[This] project represents precisely what urban areas need to not be doing,” Bridgens told the board. “We need to keep that cooling, we need that buffer between King Street and North Street, we need you to be responsible members of the community.”

Jacqueline McCreanor, who also lives near the proposed units, expressed concern about potential damage to the wetlands area, agreeing with Bridgens that the trees were needed for heat mitigation.

“Building in the wetlands would strip our neighborhood of critical flood control as well as heat mitigation,” McCreanor said. “Foundations built in wetlands are prone to flooding, mold, mildew cracking due to soil settlement, heat loss and costly maintenance and repairs.”

In response to some of the public comments, Carolyn Misch, director of Planning & Sustainability for the city, defended the project and subsequent tree removal, saying the projected carbon impact on the environment would be less constructing units in the currently proposed area rather than building in a less populated area such as Ryan Road.

“We know that there’s a huge demand for housing and that part of the issue and related to this is climate change, that affects people who are at the lower end of our economic spectrum,” Misch said. “We go beyond most other cities in the commonwealth and require replacement based on a calculation for that tree removal, and of course it’s not all the trees on the site [being removed.]”

Other public comments submitted to the board asked if the architectural style conformed with the rest of the homes along North Street, mainly built in the early 1900s. Planning Board member George Kohout said they did not, but that the difference did not concern him in deciding on whether to approve the permitting.

“It’s certainly something different, something innovative,” Kohout said of the new units’ architecture. “Whether or not it fits into the architecture of that neighborhood around North Street and the cemetery, I don’t think that really comes into our consideration at this point.”

As Sovereign Builders had yet to secure a stormwater drainage permit for the property, the board did not take a vote on granting approval for the project. It is expected to take up the matter again at its July 25 meeting.

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