The council is expected to refer an ordinance rezoning some parcels on Easthampton Road to various committees for review.
NORTHAMPTON – With the 2014 fiscal budget still beyond the horizon, the City Council plans to address an agenda of odds and ends when it meets on Thursday.
In addition to some zoning matters, the council will vote to transfer money to the City Clerk’s office for the special election to fill the seat of Sen. John F. Kerry. It will also be asked to give its approval to a merger of the Historical Commission and the Historic District Commission.
Kerry has stepped down from his post to become Secretary of State. The council will vote to set aside some $21,000 in free cash for overtime and supplies. The amount should cover both the special election scheduled for June and an April 30 primary, should there be more than one candidate from any party, said Council President William H. Dwight.
The Historical Commission and the Historic District Commission have both voted separately in favor of merging. The Historic District Commission’s business is almost entirely concerned with the Elm Street Historic District.
One of the major issues it has been contemplating is extending the Elm Street district to include Round Hill, where OPAL Real Estate is hoping to purchase 11 acres of Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech. The board is waiting to see if OPAL will earn historic tax credits and carry out the deal before it takes any action on expanding the district.
Planning Director Wayne Feiden said the merger will streamline the business of the two commissions and ease the workload on city staff. The new board will include all members of the two existing commissions. If the council votes in favor of the merger, Feiden said, it would not go into effect until April, giving the Historic District Commission an opportunity to vote on recommending the expansion of the Elm Street district.
The council is expected to refer an ordinance rezoning some parcels on Easthampton Road to various committees for review. The ordinance asks that the parcels be zoned General Industrial to comply with the needs of a second Industrial Park, which the city has long envisioned in that area. However, there are no plans at present to create such a park there.
“It’s not like we’ve reached capacity in the existing Industrial Park,” said Dwight.