GREENFIELD — As the homeless residents on the Greenfield Common continue to draw attention and concern, a city councilor looks for another location for them to live until a better solution is found.
Councilor Isaac Mass has two proposals: one being to allow homeless residents to camp at the site of the former Wedgewood Gardens mobile home park, the other being an ordinance to prevent camping on the Common. Mass said a more permanent option for homeless residents needs to be found, but until then, an alternative site would benefit them and the city.
Mayor William Martin is against moving the residents to Wedgewood Gardens.
This summer, as many as a dozen homeless people have been living on the common, pitching tents and storing their belongings there. The mayor and police chief have said they are not breaking any laws by simply camping on the Common, because the current ordinances don’t restrict use of the Common as they do for other parks, which have admission hours.
Mass wants the city to allow the former Wedgewood Gardens property near the Green River off Colrain Street to be open to visitors at all times of the day, much like how the Common currently is. Mass said this could be done by making a change in the city’s code of ordinances under “Public Lands.”
Wedgewood Gardens has been prone to flooding over the years, and was at one point a mobile home park. It is on Kimball Drive, across the street from land owned by Martin where homeless residents were camping last year.
The former mobile home park was purchased by the city in March 2007 for $799,000, which Martin said the city paid with money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Martin said FEMA has restrictions on the land’s use that include not allowing permanent structures to be built there. Martin said the reason for the restrictions is to prevent debris from catching on anything if the area floods again.
“It seems like a natural location, and can’t be used for anything else,” Mass said.
“About the only thing we can do is camping,” he added.
Mass said the space is “centrally located” to downtown, where homeless residents would have access to public facilities and stores. He said the location is also near law enforcement.
Martin said Mass’s suggestion may not be economically or logistically feasible for the city.
“We would have to provide a number of amenities to that site even on a temporary basis,” he said, adding that additional zoning and licensing regulations, including ones applying to establishing campgrounds, would have to be met if this was part of a longer term solution.
Martin said he and his office staff are researching the possibility of setting up a camp at Wedgewood Gardens regardless, but early estimates on what it would cost to provide what Mass wants are between $12,000 and $24,000.
“It’s the social service agencies that are better equipped and funded to handle the issue, rather than city government,” Martin said.
Mass is also proposing an ordinance for preservation of the Common, which would require getting permission from the Board of License Commissioners to set up temporary structures on the public land.
If the ordinance were passed, approval from the board would be needed for items including tents, tarps, sleeping bags or any other material larger than 2 square feet.
The board would also have to approve any temporary attachments to anything on the Common. Items exempt from the ordinance are yoga mats, towels and picnic baskets.
The ordinance would require any proposal for a permanent structure on the Common to have both City Council and mayor approval.
Mass said the ordinance would help protect the grass on the Common, which he said needed to be reseeded last year and could need the same due to the activity on there currently.
“Its primary use is for public demonstration or gatherings. Part of that is keeping it beautiful,” Mass said.