Editor’s note: To mark the start of a new year, the Greenfield Recorder is publishing stories about what Franklin County residents can likely expect to see happening in their communities in 2025.

GREENFIELD — As she wrapped up her first full year in office, Mayor Ginny Desorgher outlined her goals for the city’s infrastructure, housing needs and economic development in 2025 — three topics that she said should be motivated by community engagement and connection.

“We lost a lot during the pandemic, and people got a little bit more isolated,” Desorgher said. “We need companionship. We’re already talking about being a fully accessible and visitable city so that people can gather. That’s what makes people happy.”

Housing

Working toward a goal of building 600 more residences in Greenfield, Desorgher said the city can “never build enough housing fast enough.”

Though she does not expect to meet the 600-unit benchmark in a year, the mayor plans to lead the development of a diverse array of new housing, including both affordable and market-rate apartments, in 2025.

“There are some things that are in progress right now, but that isn’t in a year. It takes a long time for people to get the funding to build,” Desorgher said. “I’m hoping that we get market-rate housing. There are a couple of projects that are coming with affordable units, but we can use all types of housing.”

In 2024, City Council deliberated over two separate proposed ordinances regulating the construction of accessory dwelling units and passed two of five proposed zoning amendments filed by At-Large City Councilor John Garrett that aim to bolster the creation of dense housing.

The year also brought about passage of an amendment to the city’s cluster development ordinance, allowing for the creation of more densely packed housing on lots of land with open space.

The project to redevelop the former Wilson’s Department Store on Main Street also continued moving forward with the receipt of more than $6.3 million as part of an infusion of state grants to foster housing and economic development. The plan is to convert the building’s upper three floors into 61 apartments.

In October, Valley Community Land Trust purchased 32 acres of land on Stone Farm Lane for use as cooperatively owned affordable housing. Desorgher referenced the project, commending it as a good example of how the city should handle the housing crisis.

“One of the things that I think about with housing is that [Stone Farm Lane] co-op,” she said. “It’s more community-centered, the living space is smaller but there’s more places where people would gather to prepare something like a shared meal.”

Community and Economic Development Director Amy Cahillane echoed Desorgher’s remarks on housing, adding that she hopes to see the conversion of municipally owned buildings into affordable housing, as well as city support for private housing construction.

Infrastructure and economic growth

With City Hall having recently faced “significant plumbing issues,” Desorgher said repairing the city’s aging infrastructure remains a top priority for 2025.

Desorgher spoke to concerns about City Hall’s heating and plumbing issues at City Council’s December meeting, citing numerous sewage backups in 2024 — some of which required staff members to evacuate to the second floor — as well as heating issues at the start of 2024. She said the 1848 building’s condition has her concerned as to its “future viability.”

“That’s a concern of mine, keeping everybody in a good, safe spot,” Desorgher said. “This has led me to think more about the facility operational problems that are here.”

2024 saw the start and completion of the city’s $1.17 million project to replace a large stretch of the water mains from August through November, along with City Council approving a more than $125,000 upgrade at Hillside Park.

“We all know that we need water and we know what problems we’ve had in the city by not taking care of some of our infrastructure,” Desorgher said previously. “You have to take care of your infrastructure — you have to replace the water mains and repair the roads.”

Although not as immediate a need, Desorgher also cited investment in the creation of new gathering spaces and repair of existing ones as a goal in the years ahead.

Desorgher said she has been meeting with Recreation Director Christy Moore and Greenfield Business Association members seeking ways to make the city more inviting and accessible to visitors and new businesses. She said downtown events such as Greenfield’s annual Winter Carnival or the Garden Cinemas’ movie series bring people together and bolster the local economy.

“Everybody’s doing all they can to reach out to new businesses to encourage them to come here,” she said. “We have a goal to have more things here in the downtown that bring people together and brings them to the center of town so that they can see our great restaurants and stores. We need to continue to support everything we can downtown. … We’re hoping for more growth and hoping that we’re capturing the new growth.”

Referencing the Greenfield Business Association’s partnership with the Community and Economic Development Department to revitalize the city’s underused corridors, Cahillane said she plans to request state funding for storefront revitalization downtown.

Cahillane also mentioned redeveloping the former First National Bank building on Bank Row as another goal for the year ahead.

“We’re partnering with the Greenfield Business Association to spend some effort on maintenance and beautification. We’re working with them to do more plantings downtown, to do some more community cleanups downtown, and then working in concert with the Greenfield Business Association to do a lot of property owner outreach and business owner outreach outside of the downtown core as well as within,” Cahillane said. “We’re looking at neighborhood corridors like Deerfield Street or Federal Street in ways that we might be able to better support businesses in those neighborhoods.”

As the city aims to grow, Chief of Staff Erin Anhalt added that it’s also working to become more accessible. She announced a training project she will continue in 2025 for municipal staff on how to best serve residents with disabilities. Anhalt said she has discussed the initiative with GBA members and partnered with the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management.

“Sometimes certain groups of people are overlooked, so this is to make sure that our customer-facing staff here at City Hall better understands how to engage people who are maybe on the spectrum or have mental health struggles or ADHD,” Anhalt explained. “We’re working with the Collins Center to develop a training program this year to make sure we’re being as inclusive as possible, not just with our customer-facing staff, but also internally, to make sure that if somebody is neurodiverse, that there are more opportunities.”

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