In Summary:
Under Mayor Virginia Desorgher, Greenfield has closed an acre-sized downtown lot and designated it for housing development, citing surplus parking and growing demand for homes. The city recently passed zoning reforms that allow accessory dwelling units, lift caps on multifamily projects, and eliminate parking minimums that once limited density. Leaders hope the changes will spur construction, reduce costs, and serve as a model for other small cities facing similar housing shortages.
Could this work in Apopka?
The same logic driving Greenfield’s decision could resonate in Apopka, where large surface parking lots sit adjacent to downtown amenities, public buildings, and redevelopment corridors. Like Greenfield, Apopka has invested heavily in its downtown core while still dedicating significant acreage to parking that is often underutilized outside peak events. Converting even a portion of that land into housing — particularly mixed-use or workforce units within walking distance of City Hall, restaurants, and trails — could increase supply without pushing development farther outward. Any such move would require careful study, public engagement, and coordination with existing parking needs, but the Greenfield example shows how cities can rethink asphalt not as fixed infrastructure, but as flexible land that can evolve alongside housing demand.
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The Hope Street parking lot in downtown Greenfield, Massachusetts, looks like any lot in your average American downtown: a slab of asphalt that can hold several dozen cars. But when Mayor Desorgher saw the lot after two years of use as a temporary fire station, she saw something else: the potential site of future housing. Under her leadership, the acre-sized lot — which is within walking distance of the train station and other downtown amenities — has been closed to parking and designated for housing development.
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Greenfield, the county seat and sole city of Franklin County, is a post-industrial city with a population of 18,000. Culturally, it's a unique blend of agricultural and urban, and it faces a housing shortage common to hundreds of cities across the U.S. According to a recent study by Community Scale, the town needs 600 additional units over the next decade to keep up with projected growth.
Community Scale Principal Jeff Sauser explained that it’s difficult to attract developers for various reasons, among them higher-than-average poverty rates relative to the rest of the state, an issue rooted partly in post-industrial decline and the opioid crisis. Countywide, median monthly mortgage payments are $3,400, double the $1,750 considered affordable relative to local wages. This economic reality makes it hard for builders to justify bringing projects to town, knowing their costs will remain the same while they could secure higher rents and greater purchasing power in neighboring cities.
City leaders have responded by implementing several reforms to streamline homebuilding. Building on a history of progressive zoning, they’ve recently passed two ordinances, one that allows accessory dwelling units by right in residential areas and another that lifted a 24-unit cap on residential development in areas like downtown. They also plan to review parking rules with an eye toward future reforms.
These zoning reforms are already showing results, largely due to successful collaborations among the city, local landowners, and nonprofit housing developers. For example, at 176 Main Street, local nonprofit housing developer Rural Development, Inc. plans to replace a collection of one-story commercial buildings with a four-story, 24-unit building. The developer also plans to build an additional eight townhomes in the back — eight extra units that can exist partly because the city eliminated parking minimums in 2021.
