GREENFIELD — More than a dozen residents who live near the temporary fire station gathered Thursday night to discuss the future of the property and how any future development of the land, once the fire station moves out, might affect them.

In September 2021, the Fire Department moved into the temporary fire station on Hope Street while the new one is built on Main Street near Coombs Avenue. With construction expected to be complete by late 2023 or early 2024, Thursday’s meeting was an opportunity for residents closest to that parcel to share their ideas for how the land could next be used.

Prospect Avenue resident Wisty Rorabacher, who organized the meeting with her partner Judy Draper, said comments would be compiled and shared with the city as it moves closer to having a more official conversation.

“This all started from a conversation happening on our front porch,” Rorabacher explained to the group gathered in the Social Room of Franklin County’s YMCA. “We thought people in our neighborhood really ought to come in here to talk about it … and have some kind of say about what’s going on. … We want to know you’re being heard.”

Overwhelmingly, those who spoke seemed to advocate for returning the space to parking, expressing concerns that their neighborhood is over-burdened by parking, specifically permit parking, making it difficult to park their own vehicles or those of guests. A housing development, in addition to the former armory building coming online, would only add to that stress on the neighborhood, they said.

“Our neighborhood is gone. Everybody has their own cars,” said Prospect Avenue resident Sandy Lenois. “I’d like to see them make sure they don’t have cars parking in front of … our homes. I’d also like Hope & Olive to have more parking for their restaurant.”

Others agreed, noting that the abundance of street parking creates a hazard for residents pulling out of driveways or turning onto roads where parked cars impede sight lines.

“The permit parking is the problem,” said resident Marc Odato. “It’s not my neighbors.”

Returning the parcel to a parking lot, with trees and green space, would make for a safer neighborhood, some residents said. In general, more crosswalks and better sight lines in the vicinity of the Hope Street parking lot would make for a safer pedestrian experience.

In general, residents who were concerned about the impact a new housing development would have on their community said they would rather the city maintain the buildings it has before creating new ones.

Dawn Morin, who lives and owns a business on Hope Street, advocated for the property to be used for business development.

“I’d like to see [a request for proposals] for some kind of business, or businesses in there,” she said. “I want Hope Street to be an extension of Main Street.”

Others, however, said the parcel of land offers an opportunity to expand the housing availability in Greenfield. Resident Susan Worgaftik, who was invited to speak as a representative of Housing Greenfield, said the property is the last developable piece of public land in Greenfield.

“I really think this is a great opportunity to build more housing,” said resident Crispin Youngberg. “We’ve got a housing crisis. We need to do something about it. Affordable is really what we need at this time.”

“There’s a housing crisis in Massachusetts,” resident Nikki Sauber agreed. “I think affordable housing would be great. Based on the parking study done in Greenfield … we need no more.”

Sauber was referencing a grant-funded parking study conducted for the city by consulting firm Stantec that found parking supply in the city significantly outweighs demand, with roughly half of the nearly 3,000 spots in the downtown area being empty at all times.

The results of the study were shared with the city at a public meeting at the John Zon Community Center in June.

Community Development Administrator Anna Oltman, who was invited to the meeting in her capacity as a city employee, explained that the study focused more on Main Street and the downtown area, as opposed to many of the streets residents were concerned about Thursday, particularly Prospect Avenue. She explained the parking study was conducted to determine whether the Hope Street lot is, in fact, needed as a parking area after the temporary fire station vacates.

“It’s interesting to hear you have a sense of overcrowded parking in your neighborhood,” she said. “It’s interesting to me because the Olive Street garage was wildly underused. … That’s poor parking efficiency.”

Oltman, who emphasized her role at the meeting was to listen, said the city hopes following some of the recommendations provided by the parking study — namely that permit parking should be more concentrated outside of neighborhoods — will help ease the burden members of the community were describing.

Oltman added that while affordable housing is something the city is “very interested in,” planning is in the early days. In fact, the property would require a feasibility study to determine if it’s even suitable for that type of development.

“The city isn’t willing to say this is happening, because we don’t know that it’s structurally possible,” she said.

The city is also working on a housing study to get a sense of the local housing market, Oltman added.

Architect Erica Rioux Gees, who was invited due to her expertise in zoning and development, said that with the property being located in the commercial district, the land’s opportunities are abundant. Uses allowed by right include gardens, parking, passenger terminals, private clubs, mixed residential/retail or restaurants, for example.

“The fact you’re here, you’re clearly interested in what happens here, and you’re engaged in this, which is great,” she said. “You do have a voice. You do have a say.”

Resident Margaret Youngberg, who supported suggestions for affordable housing, acknowledged that all attendees were coming from a similar place of wanting what’s best for the city.

“Every single person in this room cares about this town and specifically this neighborhood,” she said. “We love living here not because we have a house and place to park our car. Continuing to invest in things we love in this town is really complicated.”

Among the youngest to speak was 10-year-old Emma Hale, who said she’d read about the neighborhood meeting in the Recorder. Although she lives in Shelburne, she wanted to share her idea for the property with the neighborhood.

“We could turn the space into a park,” she said, “with a playground and community garden.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

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