The rear portion of the former poultry processing plant, pictured, is expected to be redeveloped in the first phase of the project, according to previous comments by Coastal Venture Properties’ Palmer and Sandy Gillis.

By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(July 17, 2025) Following a public hearing, the Berlin Town Council approved a request from developers to rezone parcel 57 at Heron Park from R-1, residential, to B-2, shopping district, to allow for the space’s renovation.

Heron Park’s parcel 57, the site of the former Tyson Foods poultry processing plant, will be rezoned from a residential district to an area designated for shopping and retail. The Berlin Town Council green-lit the reclassification at its meeting on Monday, July 14.

Per the property’s new categorization to B-2, the sale of parcel 57 from the Town of Berlin to developers Palmer and Sandy Gillis of Coastal Ventures Properties (CVP) may now go forward. CVP agreed to purchase parcel 57 from the Town in April. The contract stipulates that for the sale to proceed, the land must be rezoned from residential to commercial use.

The developers’ attorney, Mark Cropper, went before the Berlin Mayor and Council during the governing body’s meeting earlier this week, requesting the rezoning of parcel 57 based on a previous classification mistake and a change in the character of the neighborhood. Cropper gave a similar presentation to the town’s planning commission last month, seeking their recommendation, which they provided.

Cropper said that the space must be rezoned, as there has been a change in the character of the neighborhood. Cropper defined the neighborhood as either the Town of Berlin as a whole, or a more restricted location bounded on the north by US Route 50, bounded on the south by Franklin Avenue, bounded on the east by Route 113, and bounded on the west by Route 818.

Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall noted that the more specific neighborhood definition “is kind of the nutshell of Heron Park.”

According to Cropper, the neighborhood’s character has changed, as the space was once overwhelmed by the poultry processing plant, an industrial site. As this use is no longer in operation, the location’s nature has shifted.

“As far as the change in the character of the neighborhood, Tyson’s poultry plant doesn’t exist anymore, that was that neighborhood, and thus that is a change in that neighborhood that is consistent with this request,” the attorney said.

Cropper and CVP also claimed that parcel 57 should be rezoned on the basis that its current classification, residential, was an error.

“You have a property that is presently zoned R-1, and there has been an industrial use on it as long as I’ve been alive,” Cropper noted. “Those two things could not be more inconsistent.”
Town of Berlin attorney David Gaskill added that parcel 57’s current zoning uses are disallowed on the property. This fact further supports the argument that the location should be reclassified.

“The presented evidence, based on a mistake, would indicate that this property is currently zoned R-1, but it is prohibited from constructing residences on the property,” he said. “That is the classic definition of a mistake.”

At last month’s planning commission meeting, Berlin Town Administrator Mary Bohlen said that the municipality purchased the property in early 2016, at which point it was rezoned R-1, with the intention to turn it into a park. That goal never came to fruition, but the residential distinction remained.

The town council unanimously approved to rezone parcel 57 at Heron Park from R-1 residential to B-2 shopping and retail. Councilman Jack Orris made the motion to pass the resolution and accept the testimony from Cropper as a statement of fact. Councilman Jay Knerr seconded that motion.

Bohlen noted that the resolution technically does not take effect for 10 days after its passage.

Now that the property will be rezoned to allow commercial uses, the sale of parcel 57 from the Town of Berlin to CVP may proceed. While the developers do not yet know what exactly will be utilized by the refurbished parcel, their plans include office and retail space. The Gillis’ committed to constructing at least one office or retail building in the designated area within two years of closing as part of the redevelopment plans. CVP is responsible for the re-engineering costs associated with the site.

Earlier this spring, the town agreed to sell parcel 57 to CVP, which consists of approximately 9.35 acres of land, for $1,200,000. The price includes the allocation of 15 sewer Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDUs) to the property.

Although ownership of the parcel will be transferred from the municipality to the developers, there are limitations on what can operate on the site. In the contract, the Town of Berlin and CVP have agreed upon a list of establishments that are banned from existing on the land. The prohibited uses include pawn shops, gun shops, tanning salons, massage parlors, adult video and book shops, adult entertainment facilities, check cashing facilities, tattoo parlors, liquor stores, and gambling facilities.

“Quite honestly, we don’t know yet what’s going to go there, but it will be consistent with the provisions,” Palmer Gillis said at last month’s planning commission meeting.