Northampton Zoning Board Approves Cooley Dickinson Donor Sign, Bars Lighting

NORTHAMPTON -- April 9, 2026, Northampton Zoning Board approves Cooley Dickinson donor plaque with mandatory unlit condition. The board voted 3-0 Thursday to grant a special permit allowing Cooley Dickinson Hospital to install a donor recognition wall sign reading "You Are Welcome Here" at 30 Locust Street, conditioned on the sign remaining unlit at all times. Chair David Bloomberg and members Elizabeth Silver and Oren Scanlon spent roughly an hour wrestling with whether an additional sign, the hospital already has nine wall signs against a one-sign allowance, could satisfy the code's requirement that it "be permitted in the public interest" without the board impermissibly weighing the sign's content under First Amendment neutrality principles. Nathan Chung of the city's Office of Planning and Sustainability advised that typical content-neutral public interest bases include safety and navigation, but the board ultimately found neither applied and settled on a finding that approval "acknowledges donor support and encourages future donor support" for the hospital. A member of the public, identified only as Dr. White, testified against any illumination, citing light pollution and Laura's Law concerns about sign competition near an emergency entrance. The board separately voted 3-0 to approve a special permit for homeowner Rasif Rafiq to build an open deck connecting a garage to his nonconforming house at 94 Williams Street.