001All right, the Tuesday, May 12th, Planning Board meeting is now called to order. First item on the agenda, we have public hearing for zero Emerald Street. We received a request to withdraw that. >> We have not received a request to withdraw from the Planning Board. We they did receive a request to withdraw without prejudice through the ZBA, so I'm expecting that because there's no avenue for him to go down through the Planning Board, but I just need that formal letter in order to close the item from our agenda, so we'll continue it to the next meeting and hopefully get that letter with the request to withdraw without prejudice. >> Do we have a motion to continue the hearing to the June 9th meeting? >> I'll make a motion >> I'll second. >> You made a
002motion to continue it. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor? All right. Opposed? Motion passes. Next up, we have 670 Turnpike Boulevard, definitive site plan review. Jason, do you want to give a quick update? >> Yeah, we didn't really have any further comments. There was a resident who I believe reached out in regards this item, but as they are not present, I can't speak on their behalf. I did send around the order of conditions, conditions of approval for this development to the board, of which I received no comments. Wheeler Engineering also reviewed the order of conditions, and all of the conditions were um validated and uh approved by them as well through their review. So, if the board would allow, I'll as I do run through the order
003of conditions. Um Conditions of approval for the development at 677 Timothy Boulevard of the eight pump fueling facility adjacent uh convenience store. Condition one, the project shall be constructed in conformance with the civil set plan, drainage report, and other supporting documentation submitted to the planning board on March 24th, 2026 and are considered binding conditions of approval. The applicant shall obtain and maintain all permits and approvals required by local, state, and federal agencies prior to commencement of construction. Prior to commencement of land disturbance, the applicant shall obtain a stormwater permit from the City of Gardner Engineering Department in accordance with the City of Gardner Stormwater Management Ordinance and Stormwater and Erosion Control Regulations as acknowledged within the applicant's March 2020 March 24th, 2026 response letter. The operation and maintenance plan, long-term pollution prevention plan, spill prevention
004and response response procedures, BMP inspection schedules, and associated maintenance requirements uh included within appendix G of the approved drainage report shall remain enforceable conditions of approval. Prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy, the applicant shall submit an as-built plan to the building department prepared and stamped by a professional engineer certifying that the drainage system and stormwater management facilities were constructed in accordance with the approved plans and applicable city regulations. Snow storage shall be limited to the locations depicted on the approved plan. Any excess snow shall be stored only in in areas outside of wetland resource areas and associated buffer zones consistent with the applicant's March 24th, 2026 response letter. The applicant shall maintain all pedestrian access routes, ADA compliant parking spaces, curb ramps, detectable warning surfaces, and accessible paths in travel in compliance with
005the applicable Massachusetts Architectural Access Board Regulations 521 CMR as shown [snorts] in the approved plans. Any modifications to the approved plans and that substantially alter drainage, access, circulation, lighting, landscaping, utilities, or building layout shall require review and approval by the planning board and or city engineer prior to implementation. The planning board reserves the right to inspect the site and request or request documentation from the applicant at any time to ensure ongoing compliance with these conditions. And all site work and drainage system installations shall be subject to inspection and approval by the city engineer or their designee. That is the conclusion of the conditions that have been set out in front of us. If the board has any final comments, um if not, then I would request that a vote be put to the floor uh
006for um a decision to be made for the site plan. >> We changed up uh the format of the agenda a little bit um rather than have the public hearing and the vote on the decision separated, um I just decided to take them kind of at the same time rather than wait until later in the meeting to Okay. Vote items. Um just for projects going forward so that uh you know, any residents who are there can hear the vote right after the hearing is closed and the applicant doesn't have to stick around either. Um So, are there any further questions for the applicant before we close the hearing? >> Nope. >> No. >> Did you have anything to add? >> Did you engineer all set, Rob? >> Um yep. Good. >> Do we have a
007motion to close the public hearing? >> I make a motion to close the public hearing. >> Second. >> Motion and a second, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? None. And then do we have a motion to uh approve the site plan with conditions as outlined by staff? >> I make a motion to approve the site plan with conditions as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? None. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up we have other business, master plan, and housing production plan. Jason. >> So, we have been in the process of completing this master plan, the first since I think 1974, 1975. Uh first in 50 years, over 50 years now. Um over the past year, we have had multiple uh
008community engagement proj- um events as well as uh public comment period. Uh those have all concluded. Those edits have been implemented into the plan, which I've uh shared around with the board um early April uh for their review, as well as circling back following the public comment period finishing with the few edits that were uh implemented following that public comment period finishing. So, in front of us all tonight for the this item is uh the presentation by Barrett Planning Group, uh which Jen will be uh facilitating shortly. But, then following that would be the decision of whether or not to accept and uh adopt the plan as presented um in its entirety. >> Okay. Uh yes, thank you, Jason. So, my name is Jen Doherty. I'm the preservation planner with Barrett Planning Group. Um and
009as Jason said, we've been working um sort of for the past year, almost a little over a year now, um with the city on preparing a new master plan. Um just wanted to give a big thank you to Jason, other city staff, and our master plan steering committee members, um who really helped drive the project um and guide us and tell us more or share more with us about Gardner. Um so, as Jason said, we were updating this lovely plan from 1974. It's 50 years old now. Um master plans are adopted in Massachusetts under general laws chapter 41 section section 81D. Uh Uh, and we were working on the sections that covered natural resources, open space and recreation, uh, housing, excuse me, historical and cultural resources, land use, housing, transportation, and economic development. Uh, the
010project was funded by a grant from EOHLC. Uh, and it really, even though the last master plan was done 50 years ago, certainly didn't mean that Gardner had kind of stopped planning for 50 years. Uh, we certainly incorporated a lot of the plans, especially plans that have been completed over the past 20 years or so many years. Uh, so just a quick review of some of the community engagement and some of the results of our work. Um, so again, we started in April of 2025 on the project. Um, we had a sort of initial round of staff, board, and committee interviews. Uh, we had a community survey available for about a month. We got about 200 responses for that. And then we had initial community workshop where we focused on developing a vision statement and
011some values for the community. Uh, over the summer we did a few more kind of drop-in events, a little easier um, when folks are kind of gone for the summer. Uh, we had a drop-in coffee hour for local businesses. Um, Adam attended the library kickoff, and then he and I attended National Night Out, which was a really great community event. Pilot diversity in action. Um, and then in the fall we had another workshop, uh, where we focused on presenting, um, some of the information that we found sort of about Gardner and kind of current conditions, and getting more information from folks there. Uh, and then in December, as we were starting to actually develop the implementation plan, we held office hours here in City Hall for, um, staff and boards to, uh, drop in and
012chat chat with us. Uh, in early January, earlier this year, we were working on kind of finalizing a full draft plan. Um, as Jason said, we made that available for public comment at the beginning of April. We had another final workshop in mid-April to present the findings of the plan, present some of the recommendations, and then we are here tonight to hopefully have the planning board adopt a master plan. All right. So, our plan is really built around a vision statement and values that we heard from the community members. So, these values and vision statement really just were kind of guiding, you know, what we want Gardner to be in the future. We had at our initial public workshop a sort of Mad Libs where people could kind of fill in their own vision statement
013for the future. And so, those were some of the things that had come up from folks in that Mad Libs statement. Um but this was our final vision statement that sort of pulled together a lot of the different things that we heard from the community. I won't read it. It is quite long, but it is there. And it's really sort of what folks want Gardner to be in 20 years. We heard a lot about community and the sense of community that people have within the city, a lot about the natural resources, a lot of concern for having some affordable housing in the city. And so, those all sort of worked their way into this final vision statement. And then these were things that community members valued, their values. They are things that are present in
014Gardner, but that may folks may want to sort of see amplified over the next 20 years. So, again, they really kind of drove some of the recommendations in the implementation plan, focusing on really sort of amplifying those values through the steps that the city would take. Uh so, the final document itself, it includes an inventory and assessment. Again, which is basically kind of what is going on in Gardner right now, what's happening on the ground today. Uh through that, we developed key issues and opportunities. Uh where, you know, there are some pain points, where Gardner isn't quite to its future vision of itself. Um or where there were some good things that the city could really build upon and help them reach that vision. And then finally, the plan closes out with a prioritized implementation
015plan, uh which are more specific actions for each of the topic areas and some of the key issues um that the city can take, whether that's city departments, uh staff, boards and commissions, um or even other organizations within the city. Uh so, in addition to those topic areas that I mentioned at the beginning, things like housing and economic development, uh we did pull out some sort of cross-cutting key issues that were things that just kind of kept coming up and that, you know, didn't fit as nicely into [snorts] some of those other categories. Uh so again, these are things like community and support, just sort of the general sense of, you know, good community that is here in Gardner. Um an interest in balancing growth with preservation. Uh the city has a lot of historic
016buildings and it needs to grow some more, hopefully. Uh but wanting to kind of keep those historic buildings and keep Gardner's sense of place while growing. An interest in revitalizing the downtown area, encouraging more businesses there, more housing there, to kind of um you know, get it back to maybe what it once was in the early 20th century. Um we did note that like a lot of sort of North Central Massachusetts communities, the city does have an aging population. Um it is the, you know, average age of the community is getting older. There are fewer families moving in. Uh, a focus on sustainability and resilience. Obviously, many communities are doing that now as well. Um, and then an interesting really trying to find outside funding for a lot of projects. Um, this uh, plan itself
017was funded by a grant from EOHLC. Gardner has done a lot of work getting grants for other projects. Uh, and so really just kind of continuing that work to, uh, build upon this the resources that the city does have. And so, our final implementation plan looks something like this. Um, so each category, each topic area kind of has their own, um, set of specific recommendations. They include a ranking, um, high, medium, or low. Basically, if it's something that the city should focus on now, or if it's something that's a little bit, you know, longer term, 10-20 years out. Uh, and then finally, those abbreviations there stand for different city departments or boards and commissions, um, who have sort of a key ownership role in that recommendation. So, we are here to ask you to adopt
018this as a new master plan for the city. Under the general laws, master plans do lie with the planning board. The planning board is sort of the final vote in adopting a master plan. Um, and so just a majority vote to adopt this as the master plan. And I will let, um, we are going to clean it up. Um, it is still sort of in a draft form, um, but we just like to have planning boards actually adopt the text and, you know, the information that is in the plan. Um, none of that will change. And we're just going to clean it up, put pictures in, make it look nice, all that kind of good stuff. Um, but we just like to make sure it's finalized before we go through all of that work. Um
019so just kind of looking ahead, once you do adopt this as a master plan, uh we certainly encourage communities to kind of keep track of their progress on implementing it. Um you know, hopefully it is something that gets implemented and you do kind of look to it for uh things that the city should be doing. Um one of the things that was suggested was including um some kind of question in the city's annual report questionnaire about how departments and boards and commissions are, you know, making progress towards implementing the master plan, towards those pieces that are sort of under their purview. Uh we always encourage incorporating the master plan into any new planning documents. Um so as you develop other different topic-specific plans, like updating the open space plan, um the housing production plan, which
020you're already doing, but in a few years, once you update that, um kind of making sure it's in line with what's recommended in the master plan. Uh and then finally, we did include a 20-year time horizon for this master plan. Um hopefully a little sooner than 50 years next time for Gardner. Um but even sooner if there are a lot of changes that happen in the city. So, you know, significant population changes, significant development, you know, some huge company comes to town, whatever the case may be, um if there's some kind of, you know, drastic change to the city, uh the master plan should be reviewed uh sooner than 20 years. Um and so that is all I have, so I'll turn it back to you guys. And again, we're just looking for a vote
021to adopt this as the new master plan for the city. >> I have a question. >> Yep. >> I noticed you review of the master plan 20 years, and you addressed it. Why did you just Was it just selected 20 years, or because uh some of the plans that we have are probably regulatory by statute for like 5 years. Um So, 20 years is just an arbitrary figure. >> It is to some degree. Yeah, yeah, 50 is way too much. 50 is way too much, yes. Um and it really kind of depends on the community. We do have some communities that go shorter than that. Um we're just starting a project now where it's actually been only 10 years. Um but again, they're a community where they've seen a lot of development over the past
02210 years. There's been a lot of significant change. Um so, they were really looking to kind of redo the master plan. Um it is a lot of it's a year-long project. It's a lot of effort to kind of go through and update a master plan. So, we certainly wouldn't go sooner than 10 years. Um but if Gardner's just kind of, you know, going to chug along for the next 20 years, I think that would be sort of a good time horizon to consider the next plan. >> I think it should be 10, but that's only my opinion. >> If we get to that point where it's 10 years and we feel like it's worth >> Until >> in a decade to review the plan. >> I would say until we start seeing things happening and
023we can then determine Well, we can throw the 20-year thing out and have a meeting and change it. So, I would >> Yeah. >> Surely leave it at 20 right now. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Yeah, I just uh I personally like to thank your team. I think you guys did a wonderful job and I know it was a lot of hard work. So, thank you. You guys did a terrific job. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think we've been really working together. >> I think so, yes. Thank you very much. Yeah. And to expand that not only the team but all the members of the team that have cooperated to it. Uh it's getting back to your 20 years, Bob. I think in 10 years something happens, we'll go looking if
024we have to. >> I imagine so, yeah. >> Sure. 20 is a lock and stock. >> Until something happens. >> Sure. >> Gardner doesn't move swiftly, so >> Well, how how old are you? >> I echo Paul's comments, too. I thought the team was really great to work with, and the plan was really well written, so it was fun to be a part of the steering committee, and it was easy to review because it was a good product from the beginning, so. >> Appreciate that. >> I like the way the a lot of the issues were addressed. Uh very clearly explained the old and the new and merging together and let's not get rid of the old, but bring in the new. I I kind of like that approach that that we had happened that
025to remind people that we we've got a city that's been around for over 100 years. We want to be around for another 100. At least. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for that, though. Well done. >> We are a city who have largely lost our industrial core. >> Yeah. >> Is something that we have to acknowledge, and they've done Bear and BSC have done a really fantastic job of giving us implementation steps to step-by-step how do we reach the next point of what Gardner is is supposed to be. Um how do we make that missing middle for the for housing? How do we uh replace that missing uh pieces of of previous employment opportunities in Gardner? Um all of that is represented here. And so I I again, as everyone has said, echo the sentiment of
026of thanking you, the whole team. Um you've all been fantastic to work with, and hopefully you've enjoyed working in Gard- with in Gardner as much as we've enjoyed working with you all and doing something that the city has needed for well, if we're doing math, 30 30 31 years. >> I was thinking about the chair on Elm Street. That's probably the 10th or 11th version of that chair. But kids today have no idea what that chair means other than to sit on it and climb on it and have their picture taken. Of course I come from the industrial age and I remember the all the smoke and the smells that came from those factories. So, I'm sorry that they're gone. And I And I blame the owners for not changing to the 21st century. So,
027but that's done with now. So, I just wanted to get that off my chest. >> [laughter] >> We'll certainly incorporate a picture or two of the chair in there for sure in the blog post then. >> Thank you again. >> Yes. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to put on the floor to accept the Garden the Master Plan as presented and to adopt the plan and so forth. >> I second. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Opposed? Motion passes. >> Thank you guys so much. Yes, and so we'll be finalizing the plan over the next month or so. It is due June 30th >> [laughter] >> under the grant so we will certainly have it before then. But yeah, you'll have a sort of nice clean finalized document with
028pictures. >> Sounds good. >> Thank you all. >> So, announcements, news, articles, events. I know you had something that you sent out, Jason. >> Yeah, the only other item is the appointment for the Montachusett Joint Transportation Committee. Every year we have to appoint a new member from the Planning Board to represent Gardner within that joint committee. Previously we've had Bob. He's currently serving as chair, but if anyone else is interested, I have to bring it to the to the floor to gauge interest. Obviously, Bob has I think Bob is still interested in in continuing his work there, but there's also the possibility of having an alternative and alternate member. So, if someone else is interested in kind of swapping out who might be interested in joining in with Bob or just have it be Bob.
029Those are all the options available. >> looking at me? No, I can't. >> [laughter] >> I can't. I Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that I've asked Bob if he's still interested and also that he continue in this position as our representative to the board. >> I second that. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? All right. Opposed? None. Motion passes. Thanks, Bob. >> I didn't lose. >> [laughter] >> If you can just send me your address. I have your telephone number. I think I just need your address. I don't know what it is and I think you'd prefer not to say it on >> [laughter] >> a publicly recorded meeting. Um, I had no other items for um, announcements, events. >> Jason, don't you have something
030for the HPP? >> Oh, yes. Yes, thank you. Um, the housing production plan was just sent to me like 50 minutes before this meeting started. So, the draft of the housing production plan of guiding housing development in the city as well over over the next 5 years, I believe, 5 years, is is going to be sent to the board shortly for their review and then similarly to this, the acceptance of that plan at the June meeting on June 9th. So, expect that in your emails and you will um, provide comments back to me and I can relay that over to Bear Planning. >> Sounds good. >> Here we go. >> We have a motion to adjourn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Thank you, everybody. >> Thank you.