Mayor LaChapelle encourages public input into Downtown Strategic Plan

MASSLive: Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle is expected to propose a tax rate stabilization fund Wednesday night aimed at reducing the city’s tax rate.

… EASTHAMPTON - Expanding the boardwalk on Nashawannuck Pond. Realigning the intersection at Main, Northampton and Pleasant streets. Moving the library to one of the soon-vacant elementary school buildings.

These are some of the possibilities explored in a downtown strategic plan drafted for the city starting last spring. Now, the city’s Planning Department wants to know what people have to say about it. “I want everybody to comment on it,” Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said.

A key part of the development of the plan involved three public workshops last year where residents gave input on what they’d like to see in the downtown and what they want to see done with the buildings. Some 100 people attended the first workshop last June, while attendance numbers for the July and October workshops were 55 and 97 respectively.