GATEWAYS BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE REPORT ON MEETINGS WITH THE MAYOR AND CITY STAFF ON SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2011 Co-Chairs

Gerry Budgar and Alison Kriviskey met with Mayor Clare Higgins and City Council President David Narkewicz to discuss the Gateways project. Following that meeting, Alison and Gerry met with Planning Director Wayne Feiden. The following is a summary of the discussions at these two meetings.
A. Project Team: All felt that this was a strong core team, but that representation from all wards would be desirable.

B. Goal: All strongly supported the goal of placing Welcome to Northampton signs at the major gateways into the city. The Mayor remarked that she had originally thought that just landscaping improvements would be made at the gateways, but she thought the signs were an excellent idea. Wayne said these would be City directional signs, exempt from zoning restrictions, and OK to go on private property, if necessary. Each sign location was discussed and all were supported. A 7th sign was recommended near the Loudville Road Bridge. 1. Route 66/Rocky Hill Road (across from the jail): Wayne said that the city owns the right-of-way to the edge of the sidewalk. Beyond that , the fields are conservation land owned by the States Department of Agricultural Resources. Seeking their approval could be a challenge, but we might recruit Sheriff Garvey, as well as Smith School staff, in the effort to get approval for the sign. 2. Route 5/Pleasant Street: All agreed that the best place for a sign would be on the green space at the intersection of Pleasant Street and Hockanum Road. If Hockanum Road is realigned at its intersection with Rt. 5, the signs location could be shifted. The proposed rotary at Conz Street is entering the design phase, but it could be years before the rotary is built, so locating a sign there would be more difficult. 3. Route 9/Damon Road: The Mayor felt it would be tough to get Mass DOT approval to put a sign near the corner of the intersection. However, the City owns a small lot between the corner and the car dealership. Wayne said he would have James identify that location because it would probably work well for a sign. 4. Haydenville Road/Broad Brook Conservation Area: Wayne said that the Conservation Commission owns the land outside the road right-of-way. Putting up one of our signs might be an incentive to clean up the conservation land adjacent to the road. By coordinating

our sign with any sign planned by the Conservation Commission to identify Broad Brook/Beaver Brook Conservation Areas, we might be able to work around any deed restrictions about signs. In addition, both the Mayor and Wayne said that the Gateways signs would be City signs and present less of a problem. 5. Route 10/South Street: All felt a sign was important on this roadway and that the best location was on the abutment under the bike trail bridge to the left as you drive into town. Wayne supports this idea; however, he cautioned that the land around the bridge belongs to National Grid. He suggested affixing the sign to the abutment because the City owns the bridge and could give permission for the sign to be on their structure. The Manhan Bike Trail signs were affixed directly to the bridge and it is not difficult, mechanically, to do that. 6. Route 5/10 (Hatfield): The Mayor suggested contacting Laurel Park to see if there is a location for a sign on their property. Rockridge Retirement Home might also have a site. The last resort would be sharing space near the Rockridge sign on MassDOT right-of-way opposite the I-91 interchange. 7. Route 66/Loudville Road intersection: This is a new sign location proposed by the Mayor and approved by all to ensure a sign at this gateway in Ward 6. The other sign further in on Rt. 66 would be seen by more entering the city via Florence Road and other side roads, but the Loudville Road gateway captures everyone entering the City from its western boundary. A grassy site on the left, just east of the bridge, offers a good location for a sign. Alison and Gerry met with City Councilor Marianne LaBarge on Sept. 16th and she supports this location for a sign.

C. Approval Process: The Mayor and Wayne agreed that the path to approval for the signs is through BPW/ DPW and their sign program. All agreed that we need to meet with Louis Hasbrouck and Ned Huntley. We should ask Ned to assign a staff person to be our liaison for this project. Wayne mentioned that DPW has a $100 fee per sign for installation. They might waive this for these City signs, but we need to ask. BPW would have to be our advocate with MassDOT, as needed. When asked, the Mayor said these signs are outside the zoning process, so there is no reason to take these signs to the Technical Review.

D. Sign Design Competition: The Mayor, David Narkewicz and Wayne all agreed that such competitions require a great deal of time and work. Wayne cautioned that hiring art work is complicated by the fact that artists have certain rights to their work, even when it is used on a public sign. All recommended working with a sign company or specific sign artist, and suggested we contact the Arts Council for information about sign makers. For example, for the Manhan Bike Trail signs, Wayne worked directly with the designer at Salmon Signs to develop the concept for the weathering steel signs on the Route 10 bike bridge. Wayne suggested we contact towns, such as Easthampton, to ask about their sign project and the company they used. Stuart Beckly is the Easthampton town planner.

E. Fund-Raising: All agreed that the Chamber of Commerce would be the best resource for fundraising for this project. One avenue to financing might be offering sign sponsorships to local service clubs and businesses. The BID could provide other support, but probably not financial.

F. Implementation: If the Committee decides not to hold a design competition, this would change the implementation plan. Otherwise, the current general concepts for implementation are valid, including working with DPW/BPW to approve the sign locations, installation and other requirements. In addition, a plan and design criteria for landscaping and maintenance needs to be developed by the Committee. Wayne said that City policy asks for native vegetation for city landscaping projects.