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Regional planner urges Greenfield to consider pocket housing, tiny homes and adaptive reuse
Summary
At a Jan. 12 Planning Board meeting, Sarah Bollinger of the Southwest Regional Planning Commission advised Greenfield to research pocket housing, consider reducing backlot depths, permit cluster and tiny-home development, require bonds for site-plan compliance, and pursue overlay districts to allow adaptive reuse while protecting aquifers.
At its Jan. 12 meeting, the Town of Greenfield Planning Board heard recommendations from Sarah Bollinger of the Southwest Regional Planning Commission on proposed state lot-regulation bills and local zoning options to support housing and reuse of existing structures. Bow Smith, chair of the board, said the board wanted to 'get ahead of the current proposed state legislative bills' that could affect the small town.
Bollinger told the board the bill from last year has been reintroduced with changes and said she had not encountered many communities that were proactive. She pointed to Antrim as "the first town to successfully introduce pocket housing" and encouraged Greenfield to "look up pocket housing," arguing that it can be an alternative where traditional open-space approaches may be less effective.
She recommended several concrete options the board could consider: adjusting setbacks back to what they were before current zoning, reducing backlot depths to about 50 feet, and allowing cluster development and mobile homes to increase housing options. "Include the building inspector when creating a tiny home ordinance," she advised, to ensure any standards are enforceable.
On industrial-overlay districts, Bollinger urged caution because some industrial areas overlap the town's aquifer. She suggested creating an overlay district to promote adaptive reuse of preexisting structures while protecting groundwater. She also recommended the board write subdivision and road-policy requirements into deeds so developers understand which portions of roads they are responsible for, noting that several town roads are historically narrow and cannot be updated to current standards.
To ensure compliance with approved site plans, Bollinger suggested Greenfield consider requiring performance bonds — a practice the town does not currently implement — so the building inspector can require remediation when site plans are not completed as specified. She said this allows enforcement such as returning a surface stated as "granite" to the condition shown in the approved plan.
Bollinger offered to send the planning board an adaptive-reuse policy for review. The board thanked her for the guidance and said members would reach out with follow-up questions.
The meeting also logged several incoming applications and correspondence: a Lot Line Adjustment application accompanied by check #12182 for $425 from Fieldstone Land Consultants for Map R1 Lots 2 & 9 (the lots were noted as missing address labels), subdivision applications for Map R6 Lot 7 and Map R8 Lot 25, and the SWRPC Commission Highlights for December 2025. Dan Barowski of Fieldstone attended to explain the firm's lot-line adjustment and subdivision proposal; the board agreed to review the application at its next meeting when a full board is present. No formal approvals were taken.
The board adjourned at 8:30 p.m. after a motion by Planning Board member Iris Waitt, seconded by Chair Bow Smith; the motion passed 3-0-0. The board is expected to review the received applications at its next meeting when a full board is present.
