GREENFIELD — Members of the public will have the opportunity to voice their opinions on whether the town should remove zoning restrictions that prevent certain development, including gas stations and drive-thru restaurants, along the French King Highway at a public hearing this evening.
The proposal, made by Town Council Vice President Isaac Mass, would remove the French King Highway from the town’s Corridor Overlay District, which currently extends from the intersection of Route 2 and the French King Highway south to Smith Street. The issue is already shaping up to be a contentious debate, with more than 300 people signing an online petition against the proposal, titled, “Protect the Last Green Entryway In and Out of Greenfield.” The petition was created in mid-December by Al Norman — a Greenfield man known nationally as a “sprawlbuster” consultant against Wal-Mart and other big box developments.
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.
Mass said the change would help relieve traffic congestion on Federal Street, provide quick lunch options for people working in the Industrial Park off Adams Road and help draw attention to the ridge line along the French King Highway, which he called an underutilized natural resource.
Opponents fear reducing the overlay district would worsen traffic problems along High Street and French King Highway, interfere with ongoing litigation pertaining to the planned big box development along French King Highway, and ruin the last “green” entryway into town.
The current overlay district is 223 acres, according to the town’s Director of Planning and Development Eric Twarog, and would be reduced to 25 acres under Mass’ proposal. Twarog said most of the land in the Corridor Overlay District is zoned General Commercial, but overlay district regulations take precedence over other zoning.
If the overlay district were to be removed in areas zoned General Commercial, take-out, drive-in and drive-thru restaurants would be allowed, and gas stations would allowed by special permit.
The town’s Planning Board and Economic Development Committee will hold a public hearing on the issue this evening at 6 in the Planning Office, 114 Main St.
Mass mentioned the idea of reducing the overlay district when he was running for reelection to the council in October 2015, but said it was originally brought up by Peter Mackin while he was on the Planning Board in the late 1990s.
“He always had the concern that people in the Industrial Park should have access to quick and easy lunch,” Mass said.
He added that easing restrictions on development along French King Highway would reduce pressure for similar developments along Federal Street, which abuts residential zones.
Greenfield resident Sandy Thomas said the Corridor Overlay District was adopted more than 25 years ago with the purpose of preserving the last green entryway into town.
“This would turn it all on its head and there would be no natural entryway into town,” she said. “It would be a bunch of neon signs, which is exactly what we don’t want.”
She said she fears strip development along the French King Highway would also detract from downtown businesses, and that reducing the overlay district would not be in line with the town’s Sustainable Master Plan.
“What we wanted was to really shore up the downtown and make sure the downtown was strong and get more walking — businesses people could walk to and support — and so to build on the outside of town is a really bad idea,” she said.
In a recent memorandum to the council, Mass wrote that he believes the rezoning proposal falls squarely within the strategies of the Sustainable Master Plan.
He wrote that one of the chief objections to the reduction of the overlay district is the idea that Greenfield should preserve its last “green entryway.” Mass wrote that the town has several other green entryways, including Interstate 91 north and south. He wrote that the Federal Street commercial zone can also be accessed by Bernardston Road, which he described as “a bucolic New England gateway peppered with agricultural and high end residential resources.”
He added the only entryway that is not green is the Deerfield Street approach, but through streetscaping, river reclamation and private/public investments, that section of town is making great strides.
Mass believes reducing the overlay district would also help draw attention to an underutilized natural resource in town.
He wrote that the Sustainable Master Plan emphasizes integrating biological systems into the “urban fabric” of Greenfield, and the ridge line along the French King Highway is an underutilized resource for hiking and bird watching because of its remote location. He said the Planning Board could work with developers to highlight their businesses in a natural setting and provide signage for visitors to gain access to the ridge line.
He wrote the ridge line would remain completely undevelopable because of its topography and would be protected by all other existing zoning and wetlands regulations, which the town has in place regardless of the overlay district.
Both Thomas and Patty Perry, who lives on High Street near the hospital, also expressed concern about increased traffic if the Corridor Overlay District were to be reduced. “It’s already a mess, so I think that even considering changing the zoning up there without doing a traffic study on how the proposed zoning would impact future traffic seems really premature, and ultimately a bad idea,” Perry said.
Mass wrote in the memorandum that traffic along Federal Street continues to become more burdensome, with much of the traffic coming from motorists leaving Route 2 and I-91 to get fuel and food. That out-of-town traffic clogs up Federal Street, he wrote, encouraging others to avoid the road by driving through residential neighborhoods and cutting through parking lots.
“By diverting some of this transient traffic to the French King Highway, we will make the traffic flow for those wishing to go and shop downtown easier and will lessen the impulse of traffic scofflaws and those speeding through abutting residential neighborhoods,” Mass wrote.
Perry said the town should also consider whether reducing the overlay district would interfere with ongoing litigation over the planned big box store on the French King Highway. 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.
Mass wrote in his memorandum that shrinking the Corridor Overlay District would reaffirm the town’s commitment to bringing a discount department store to Greenfield. He wrote that the current litigation related to the development centers in part on issues related to traffic, and that adoption of his proposal will show that the community has proactively sought to increase traffic along the French King Highway, in part to relieve congestion in other locations.
He added that likewise, the rejection of the proposal is likely to be used by opponents of the big box development to show that the community has changed its position after years of litigation.