GREENFIELD — The town’s Planning Board voted Thursday to send a negative recommendation to the Town Council on a proposal to remove zoning restrictions that prevent certain development, including gas stations and drive-thru restaurants, along French King Highway.
The decision came after a joint public hearing between the town’s Economic Development Committee and Planning Board to gather input on the proposal to remove the French King Highway from the Corridor Overlay District, which currently extends from the intersection of Route 2 and the French King Highway south to Smith Street. There was standing room only during the hearing, as more than 50 people — the vast majority of whom were opposed to the change — packed the Planning Office on Main Street.
More than 30 members of the public spoke on the issue.
Adopted by the town in 1989, the Corridor Overlay District is aimed at creating attractive entryways in Greenfield by minimizing strip development and traffic congestion, protecting scenic and natural features and promoting high quality building and site design. Gas stations and take-out, drive-in or drive-thru restaurants are prohibited in the overlay district, but would be allowed in the underlying General Commercial zone.
Town Council Vice President Isaac Mass, who made the proposal, said he’s been considering bringing the idea forward for the past 15 years, ever since Peter Mackin first raised it while on the Planning Board in the late 1990. Mass said removing restrictions on development along the French King Highway would ease pressure for similar developments in other areas of town, particularly Federal Street, and allowing drive-thru restaurants in the area would give workers in the Industrial Park better access to quick and easy lunch.
After the Planning Board voted 4-1 against sending a positive recommendation to the Council, Mass said he will not withdraw his proposal. The Economic Development Committee is expected to make its recommendation to the Council Tuesday, meaning the proposal will likely make it onto the Council’s agenda this month. The zoning change would require nine votes to pass, which Mass said he’s confident will happen.
During Thursday’s hearing, those opposed to the change expressed a number of concerns, chief among them that the town should prioritize sustainable development over what they see as outdated strip development that detracts from downtown businesses.
“What this does is it changes the fact that some time ago, we wanted to prevent a strip-style development within an area that is worthy of this protection,” Greenfield resident and former town councilor David Singer said of the proposed change. “Once you remove the protection, you cannot get it back.”
Singer suggested the town take more time to consider the proposal with a stronger public input process.
Planning Board member Jamie Pottern echoed Singer after the hearing, saying, “We’re not engaging in a dialogue, so I’m really concerned about this and I’m hoping we’ll consider potentially pushing this down the line so we can have the opportunity to come together as a community.”
Mark Leonard, who owns about two acres of property on the French King Highway, attended the hearing to speak in favor of the change.
“The talk of strip malls is unrealistic,” he said. Because of its proximity to the White Ash Swamp, some of the land on the west side of the road is restricted from development, and the ridge line along the east side of the road would also remain undevelopable due to its topography.
When Planning Board Chairwoman Roxann Wedegartner questioned whether landowners along the road owned enough property to build anything on, Mass said a developer could buy multiple lots and create a workable plan.
Leonard added that the area has gone downhill since the Corridor Overlay District was added in 1989. He does not believe it has fulfilled its purpose of encouraging tasteful development.
Bill Kilgour, owner of Bill’s Auto Repair Service on High Street, also spoke in favor of the zoning change.
“We think that end of town needs more business,” he said, adding that people from out of town sometimes stop at his business to ask where they can find food in the area.
Others questioned what the motivation was for bringing the proposal forward and who, besides the landowners, would benefit from it. Many cited the recent closure of Burger King on Federal Street as proof that there is not a high demand for more fast food in town, and pointed out that they never see lines at gas stations in Greenfield.
“I’m for commercial development, and particularly jobs and economic development,” Mayor William Martin said in defense of the proposal, adding that he believes the property along the French King Highway is underutilized. “We’ve got to support this town or the property owners pay more taxes.”
He said the town is already focusing on bringing people downtown by encouraging healthcare providers to move to Main Street.
“We want to bring every health entity we can downtown, because it brings people,” he said.
Other local residents spoke about the importance of preserving the French King Highway as a “green entryway” into town, saying they want to keep Greenfield unique from other cities and towns in Massachusetts.
“Our town is called Greenfield and there’s something marketable in that, and I’d like us to focus on that,” said former Town Council president Hillary Hoffman.
Greenfield resident Donovan Eastman said shrinking the overlay district would do very little for the economic development of the town. One of the major untapped resources in the area, he said, is tourism.
“People don’t want to come here from Boston and see a place that looks exactly the same as Boston or Framingham,” he said. “This would detract significantly from our ability to capitalize on the tourist potential.”
Ongoing litigation over the planned big box store on the French King Highway was also cited as a reason to delay a decision on the zoning change. Neighbors fighting the proposed 135,000-square-foot store will have their appeal against the Planning Board’s decision to grant a special permit for the development heard in Superior Court this summer.
“We need to know what’s going to happen there before we know what we can do in the right way for the Corridor Overlay District,” Wedegartner said. “I’m inclined, in some ways, to say wait until the fall. I don’t think we’re going to get any more delays. We will have a resolution (to the big box appeal).”
Mass said although the town could choose to wait, there are people who have wanted to see the zoning change happen for a long time, and they deserve a vote on it.