Editor’s note: As part of the Greenfield Recorder’s end-of-the-year features, we are publishing in two parts our choices for the top 10 new stories of 2022. They are listed in no particular order.
Two fires resulted in fatalities in Franklin County this year, while others devastated businesses and notable structures around the area.
The two fatal fires occurred within a week of one another. The first claimed the life of Judy Verchot, a 66-year-old grandmother living in a two-family home at 20 Bridge St. in Millers Falls, on Nov. 8.
The second fatal fire occurred on Nov. 13, killing 47-year-old Montague resident William M. Willey when it consumed a single-story repair garage at 90 East St. in Northfield. The garage and an adjacent storage garage were each deemed a total loss by Fire Chief Floyd “Skip” Dunnell III. The repair shop was rented by Willey, who was scheduled to appear in court the following day for his trial on 19 charges related to alleged child sexual assaults, according to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
While nobody was hurt in the Falltown Grill’s third-alarm fire on June 29, co-owners Alex and Amy Fiorey were forced to re-evaluate their joint livelihood after the blaze destroyed their newly opened Bernardston restaurant. The couple later attributed the fire to a bucket of dry rags that had combusted. The building was torn down in November, while design work for a new restaurant was posted on Facebook by the Fioreys on Dec. 5.
That same month, three juveniles aged between 12 and 14 were criminally charged in connection with a fire that destroyed the former cereal factory at 16-36 West River St. in Orange on June 4. In addition to the collapsed cereal factory, vacant buildings at 58 and 50 South Main St. also sustained damage. Across the street, the vacant former blacksmith shop near 24 East River St. was entirely lost to fire and had to be demolished.
— Julian Mendoza
The Connecticut River Valley region has both the most bridges and the most structurally deficient bridges in the state, according to Phineas Baxandall, senior analyst and advocacy director at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. Fittingly, multiple bridges across Franklin County underwent major infrastructure projects in 2022.
Installation of 9-foot-tall safety barriers at the French King Bridge, which has garnered a reputation for suicides, began over the summer. The project was delayed after being kept off the state Department of Transportation’s Capital Investment Plan in the spring of 2020. It wasn’t until February 2021, after a series of inquiries from town officials, that MassDOT announced the project was finally moving ahead.
The preliminary construction process began on May 20, with work including surveying and considering the best plans for demolishing sidewalks in anticipation of having to install wider sidewalks to accommodate the barriers, according to Gill Police Chief Christopher Redmond. The project then mobilized in early August. Erving Selectboard Chair Jacob Smith explained at the May 11 Annual Town Meeting that the project will likely span two construction seasons, with work halting for the winter and construction resuming next spring.
Another landmark project that made progress in 2022 was the rehabilitation of the General Pierce Bridge, which was closed on April 26, 2021 for structural repairs. The $13.7 million rehabilitation of the bridge is designed to keep it standing for another 25 years. The project is being carried out by Northern Construction Service and is mainly focused on both rebuilding the deck and replacing some of the steel support structure below. The bridge is currently slated for reopening in March.
— Julian Mendoza
Some high-profile sites in Franklin County have entered new stages in 2022, with major — and controversial — developments making headlines throughout the year.
After Montague’s Farren Care Center received a demolition recommendation in November 2021, parent company Trinity Health of New England received the go-ahead to proceed, as the Historical Commission opted not to invoke the town’s demolition delay bylaw on Dec. 6.
The Farren closed in April 2021, having essentially merged with a similar facility in Holyoke called Mount St. Vincent Care Center. Trinity Health has maintained that the Montague City Road building was too old for its purposes and would be too expensive to update to modern standards. Aside from presenting a limited summary detailing costs and aspects of the building’s decrepit condition, Trinity Health has declined to provide the town with access to the full building assessment that resulted in the demolition recommendation, citing legal counsel.
Building Inspector William Ketchen said on Dec. 6 that he would issue a demolition permit once Trinity Health completes its ongoing environmental abatement and once he receives a go-ahead from the state.
The former Lunt Silversmiths property at 298 Federal St. in Greenfield, which has been the subject of environmental testing since 2005, was audited in mid-April by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The department found that a Phase II Comprehensive Site Assessment — completed in April 2020 — was incomplete and did not adequately assess contaminant sources and the extent of contamination at the property. The former manufacturing site, which may contain concerning levels of trichloroethylene, or TCE, is now having its air tested. Air samples must be submitted to MassDEP by Dec. 30, according to an interim deadline letter.
After three years of vacancy, Greenfield’s former Wilson’s Department Store building on Main Street will house an expanded Green Fields Market on its first floor, Mayor Roxann Wedegartner announced in November. Meanwhile, the upper floors will be converted into mixed-income rental apartments.
Franklin County Co-op Board Vice President KC Ceccarossi said the relocation of Green Fields Market, situated about a block away, will allow for the food co-op to double the sales floor and increase local sales, as well as grow job availability by an estimated 20%. Currently, the market employs about 100 people.
— Julian Mendoza
Following months of public discourse spurred mainly by citizen activism, Greenfield’s City Council voted this month to amend several parts of the city’s zoning bylaws that regulate marijuana cultivation, including what constitutes an “indoor cultivation” facility.
That vote was preceded by a lengthy process to also approve an amendment to the bylaws to reimpose the Tier 1 limit of 5,000 square feet of canopy, with a limit of three Tier 1 operations allowed on any given parcel. This discussion was prompted by news of the potential development of three Tier 11 outdoor cultivation sites on Country Club Road. Tier 11 allows for grow sites with up to 100,000 square feet of canopy, which is the largest size possible for a cultivation site in Massachusetts, according to the Cannabis Control Commission.
Residents came forward at multiple meetings to express concerns about safety and water use, odor, and how the cultivation site would fit in with the neighborhood’s character.
The changes, approved at this month’s City Council meeting, most notably include a more specific definition of “indoor cultivation.” Indoor cultivation, according to the new bylaws, involves a “fully enclosed and secured space within a building envelope that complies with the Massachusetts Building Code and the Greenfield Building Code.”
Meanwhile, a proposed expansion of the industrial development zone near Route 2 that appeared as though it would sail through the approval process was met with pushback in its final stage this month. The proposal, which was touted by the mayor and proponents as a solution to the lack of industrial space in Franklin County and a way to bring in jobs, was ultimately rejected by the City Council.
The proposal, introduced over the summer by Mayor Roxann Wedegartner, involved a zoning change for 48 acres, or 11 parcels, located on the French King Highway from General Commercial, which provides for mixed retail, to Planned Industry, which is meant for manufacturing and industrial development. The 11 parcels this zone encompasses include the land owned by Ceruzzi Properties where a 135,000-square-foot big box store was long proposed. That land is still under lease by Stop & Shop.
However, some suggested the proposal was too limited and would eliminate the potential for mixed-used development for retail and housing.
With a “no” vote from City Council, the proposal, as is, cannot be brought back for two years. A substantially different version, however, could be brought back sooner.
— Mary Byrne
FirstLight’s relicensing process
Despite being in motion since 2018, the relicensing process of FirstLight Hydro Generating Co. before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) entered its closing stages this year.
FirstLight, which has submitted its Amended Final License Application to FERC for a new 50-year license to operate, has three facilities up for relicensing. Those facilities — the hydro-pump facility at Northfield Mountain and two hydroelectric dams in Turners Falls — have been criticized for their impact on fish, the Connecticut River and the surrounding environment.
FirstLight has indicated to FERC that it continues “to work on a finite list of remaining issues with the goal of filing a (Comprehensive Settlement Agreement) with FERC by Dec. 31, 2022,” according to the state’s website. As FirstLight, FERC and stakeholders negotiated, environmental justice advocates convened to discuss how to ensure FirstLight’s new agreement is environmentally conscious.
In addition, the towns of Montague, Gill, Erving and Northfield agreed to contribute up to $2,500 each to match the Franklin Regional Council of Governments’ $10,000 investment in shared legal counsel as the relicensing process wraps up. Counsel entails the review and provision of written comments on FirstLight’s proposed settlement agreement, as well as recommendations for changes to counterproposals prepared by FRCOG or the towns, joint meetings and other input.
— Julian Mendoza