GREENFIELD — Roughly a year since the completion of the new Fire Station on Main Street, the city is planning to sell the Hope Street parking lot that formerly housed the temporary station.

As Mayor Ginny Desorgher plans to declare the municipally owned lot adjacent to the Franklin County Justice Center as surplus property, the Conservation Commission completed its review of the site at a meeting this week, voting unanimously to recommend a plan to the Planning Board for the land to be sold to a housing developer.

Community and Economic Development Director Amy Cahillane clarified in an interview Thursday that although plans for the project are still in a nascent stage, the city does, in fact, intend to sell the parcel to a housing developer.

“The city’s plan has been, all along, that, once the fire station came down, that we would, at some point, do a [request for proposals] in order to explore the possibility of some housing on that lot,” Cahillane said. “There’s plenty of developers who have experience building in Greenfield, and we would share the RFP with them and publish it widely.”

Conservation Commission Chair Elizabeth Garofalo commented that although the commission had until May 15 to decide whether to endorse the surplus property declaration, she did not believe a housing development in the area would have any negative impact on any of the city’s environmental conservation efforts.

The Fire Department moved into the temporary station in September 2021 while the city began work on the 412 Main St. library. The lot was cleared after the Fire Department’s roughly $22 million 41 Main St. firehouse opened in May last year.

In a series of community meetings that took place in 2023, residents expressed a number of proposed ideas for the parking lot’s use after the temporary station was taken down. Alongside housing, construction of a park or playground were suggested.

Commission member Emily Boss added that she would like to see the lot’s future developer add some form of green space to the lot, noting that rain gardens — lots of land that absorb rain and stormwater to mitigate flooding — would make a “lovely” addition to the area.

Parking Benefit District

As the city parts with its parking lot on Hope Street, efforts are underway to declare areas around the Central Commercial District near Main, Chapman and Federal streets a Parking Benefit District. Under the new district, parking funds collected from meters and paid lots would be reinvested into infrastructure and public arts projects.

The Parking and Traffic Commission voted unanimously in favor of the Parking Benefit District at its meeting Tuesday. It will be discussed by the Economic Development Committee before being put to a City Council vote.

“It seems like the money currently doesn’t have a well-defined path,” Parking and Traffic Commission Chair Sebastian Gutwein said. “This provides a mechanism for it to be dispersed.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed the address of the Greenfield Fire Station. The station is located at 41 Main St.