GREENFIELD — The Planning Board is unanimously recommending a change to the city’s zoning bylaws that, if approved by City Council, would allow the development of first-floor residential units in mixed-use complexes.

The vote in support of the amendment came after an approximately three-hour-long joint meeting held by the Planning Board and the Economic Development Committee on Thursday, in which the public was encouraged to weigh in on a five-part housing package first brought forth by At-Large Councilor John Garrett.

“One of the rationales behind this proposed amendment is to provide lower-cost, potentially accessible units that would not require an elevator, because elevators are very expensive,” Planning Board member Sarah Brown-Anson said. “It could open up the possibility of having a housing unit for someone who has a disability.”

The other four housing ordinance amendments were tabled, as board members wished to withhold their recommendations until Planning Director Eric Twarog and state housing officials could provide further input.

If recommended to City Council and approved next month, the additional amendments would allow multi-family dwellings by right in the Semi-Residential District, raise the maximum number of units allowed in new multi-family dwellings and amend the city’s accessory dwelling unit ordinance to bring it into compliance with Gov. Maura Healey’s Affordable Homes Act. In previous Planning Board meetings, the package was further amended to include allowing medical center clinics by right in the Central Commercial Zoning District.

“If a project comes forward and the retail is, say it is 10,000 square feet, and it can only use 9,000, that extra 1,000 square feet is no use to them, but it could be a residence for somebody,” Planning Board member Victor Moschella said, explaining the recommended amendment. “They could do that [under the proposed amendment] as long as they comply with all the other existing laws and requirements and guidelines. We’re now saying you can do that. That’s all we’re doing.”

The vote followed a more than 90-minute public comment period in which residents shared their views on the housing package, as well as two pieces of proposed legislation on accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.

The Planning Board also tabled a recommendation regarding ADUs that was brought forward through a citizen’s petition.

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Local activists Al Norman, Joan Marie Jackson and Mitchell Speight, who initially filed the petition, used their public comment time to speak about their proposed ordinance to require applicants seeking to add an ADU to have parcels with at least 50% open space, require that ADUs meet setback requirements for its host parcel’s zoning district and prohibit the use of ADUs for short-term rentals, such as Airbnbs.

The petition’s lot size requirement, which Norman previously said is based on the same premise as the city’s cluster development ordinance, was passed at last month’s City Council meeting and establishes a ratio of open space to housing for developers who wish to build cluster housing on open land.

“ADU by right does not produce truly affordable housing. The units rent at market rates. The ADU by right targets many single-family homes, which forever removes these homes from the existing single-family inventory,” Jackson commented. “Greenfield should be focused on creating vibrant boulevards, viable main streets that support livable, walkable housing and retail instead of dropping density bombs in single-family neighborhoods.”

Noting that the Affordable Homes Act allows cities and towns to place regulations on by-right ADU construction, Zoning Board of Appeals Chair David Singer, speaking as a citizen, requested that the Planning Board hold off on voting on ADU regulations.

“What I’m asking you to do is, depending on time, let this one die on the vine. Read the planning director’s request, and then come back and wait to see what the state says, and combine those changes, which I think are totally appropriate with whatever the state decides are the reasonable restrictions,” Singer said. “The reason it’s a little dangerous to do it one step at a time is because if a person comes in and wants to develop an ADU with just the first part done and without restrictions, as soon as they applied for a building permit, they would be in under that ordinance without the benefit of the restrictions, so they would slide in in this gap period.”

The ordinances will be further discussed at an Economic Development Committee meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Greenfield City Hall.

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