Northampton Planning Board Approves Four New Housing Units at 39 North Street

NORTHAMPTON -- April 23, 2026, Northampton Planning Board unanimously approves four-unit in-fill housing project at 39 North Street. The board voted to approve a site plan by Proterra Design Group to demolish a detached rear unit and replace it with a two-story, four-unit building, bringing the half-acre lot's total unit count from five to eight. Each new unit is approximately 750 square feet, fossil-fuel-free, and solar-ready, with parking expanding to nine striped spaces off a widened 15-foot driveway. The board attached nine conditions, including a $3,000 traffic mitigation payment, a tree mitigation payment of $100 per remaining caliper inch, compliance with the city's 2,700 Kelvin lighting ordinance, and a requirement to plant at least two evergreen trees at the northeast corner of the site to address privacy concerns raised by north-side abutter Melanie Richards of 3 Linden Street. Three waivers were granted, for a photometric plan, a landscape architect stamp, and a side-yard pedestrian path, after Planning Director Carolyn Misch and board members agreed the path was unnecessary given the widened driveway and small number of residents.