One of the most controversial strips of land in Franklin County is the Route 2A/French King Highway. Walmart, the retail king, lost two superstores on the French King. Greenfield Town Council in 1993 created a “green entryway” corridor overlay to “minimize strip development and traffic congestion.” Decades later, it was shrunk to almost nothing as part of a deal to build a new public library.

The largest vacant property on the French King is owned by Ceruzzi Properties of Connecticut, which sought a special permit to build a 135,000 square foot superstore. After a nine year lawsuit from neighbors, Ceruzzi got its special permit in Appeals Court, but the company never pursued its permit, and underwent “involuntarily dissolution” in 2023.

During the lawsuit, the Recorder announced that a “deal between Ceruzzi Inc. and Stop & Shop came to light after [Al] Norman discovered two lease agreements between the companies.” Ceruzzi gave Stop & Shop a “master ground lease” agreement in 2007 in return for more than $1 million in payments annually. Retail use appeared dead.

In 2022, Mayor Roxann Wedegartner introduced a proposal to rezone 11 parcels of land on the French King. “We’re running out of space in the current industrial park,” Wedegartner testified. Wedegartner’s plan was reduced to 6 parcels of land on 41 acres. I testified that industrial land carried only 2% of our total tax levy, and added: “Housing and retail needs do not have to come at the expense of living-wage jobs.” Valley Steel Stamp wanted to build a factory on the Ceruzzi site, but after several months of City Council deliberations, VSS found other solutions beyond Greenfield.

But now there’s a plan to rezone the French King commercial again. In April 2025, a For Sale sign appeared on the Ceruzzi Properties’ sand pit. I was told off the record that Ceruzzi found a prospective buyer. Stop and Shop now says “it has no interest in this property.” Because Ceruzzi owns the property, it picks the user. The likely land use has not been publicly revealed. But it’s a large parcel —10 acres plus a swamp.

The mayor asked the Planning Board to add an agenda item to its June 5 meeting to discuss rezoning the French King from Industrial to Commercial. No paperwork submitted, just a verbal request. Any applicant with a large project would need a new special permit, plus a Major Development Review approval, with abutters having appeal rights to court.

The French King was zoned Commercial for 26 years, with little to show for it. Just two years after Industrial rezoning was adopted, Mayor Desorgher started the process to rezone the French King back to General Commercial. The rezoning was listed as a “discussion” for the June 5 meeting but it was also listed as an “action item” on the same agenda. State law requires a zoning amendment to have a public hearing jointly or separately with the Planning Board and the City Council.

I filed a public records request with the city to discover if there had been any correspondence between the mayor’s office and Ceruzzi Properties. The city responded: “No records meet your request.”

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A few days after my records search, the French King rezoning disappeared from the Planning Board agenda but it was still on the City Council calendar. I received an email from city staff saying that the meeting with the mayor to talk about rezoning had been removed from the planning board agenda.

I assume the rezoning issue will reappear on the agenda, but the public doesn’t know how many parcels are being requested, or why this started to move forward.

Thirty-two years ago, landowner Peter Mackin offered to swap his land in the Industrial Park if his land on the French King was rezoned from Industrial to Commercial. Greenfield voters rejected that in a landmark referendum.

Spot zoning is the practice of rezoning a small parcel of land to benefit a specific property owner. Spot zoning often contradicts a municipality’s comprehensive plan, or general zoning objectives. We should not keep flip-flopping French King zoning — no matter which developer asks us to do it. It’s a form of favoritism or special treatment for one property owner, undermining the rights and uses of other property owners.

I agree with former Councilor Penny Ricketts, who voted against industrial zoning, but changed her mind at the end of 2022 and stated: “I want industrial, and as many good-paying jobs as we can get in Greenfield.”

Al Norman’s Pushback column is published in the Recorder every first and third Wednesday of the month.