‘Innovative zoning’ package advances in Northampton; will allow 2-family homes by right
Northampton city hall File photo
NORTHAMPTON The city is closer to allowing two-family homes by right all across the city.
At its meeting on Thursday night, the City Council unanimously approved, on first reading, a package of zoning changes that would allow two-family homes by right anywhere in the city. Ordinances need two votes for council approval.
“Single family home zoning is exclusive,” Carolyn Misch, assistant director of the city’s department of planning and sustainability, told the council. “And in that way, it sort of demarcates who’s allowed and who’s not allowed. And so we want to start to lift those sort of historic patterns of inequity and acknowledge the fact that we don’t want to create the barriers for people and their choice about where they want to live.”