City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This is a meeting of the Gardener City Council on the planning board for the purpose of a joint public hearing regarding an amendment to the chapter 675 the zoning code of the city of Gardner. The joint public hearing notice reads as follows. City of Gardner notice of joint public hearing. Pursuant to general laws 40A subsection 5, notice is hereby given that the city council and planning board will conduct a joint public hearing on Monday, July 7th, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the Gardener City Council Chamber 219 City Hall, 95 Pleasant Street, Gardner to consider amending chapter 675, the zoning code of the city of Garder. The proposed amendment involves changing item 11591, an ordinance to amend the gardener zoning map by changing the zoning district designation for the following existing parcel lying on the easterly side of MA 101 in eastern gardener from the commercial 2 zoning district to the industrial one zoning district with summit solar overlay. submitted by attorney Christine Tree. Information regarding these amendments and associated maps are available for viewing in the s in the city clerk's office, the department of community development and planning or on the city's web page www.gardner-na.gov. All persons interested in this matter and desire to offer testimony are invited to attend the hearing ttaran city clerk. The clerical now, please do a roll call. Councelor Brooks present. Councelor Craig Cormier. Council General Lowitz, present. Council Harder, present. Council Heath. Council Hegland, present. Council Kazinskus, present. Council Mack, present. Council Sony, present. Council Tibbo Munoz. President Tyros, present. Mr. Paul Cormier, present.

Mr. Steven Cormier, present. Mr. Flint, present. And Mr. source. We have quorum. At this time, I request a report from either the petitioner or the planning board. Attorney Tree, I'll also also ask that city councilors and planning board members please hold your questions until present citizens have an opportunity to speak and ask their questions. Right. Good evening everyone. Um, I want to thank all of you for coming here the first business day after the July 4th holiday weekend um to hear this petition. Um, this is a petition and I just want to be very clear to change the current zoning which is COM 1 um to IND1 with the Summit Solar overlay. Um and this is a vacant parcel approximately 6.13 acres that is currently owned by the CB realy trust um that is uh through the trustee Bruce Blessington who also owns uh Blessington Corp in the Summit Industrial Park. The parcel lies adjacent uh to the other uh Blessington Corp uh parcel um but is not part of the industrial park or its zoning. What our petition seeks to do is to uh move the boundary line um for the zoning district. So, um, the petitioner's current parcel, um, at 77 sublane is zoned IND1 with the summit solar overlay and they want them to move that boundary over to the adjacent parcel which they have purchased. Um, their purpose in doing so is to expand

um, their current business uh, beyond its capacity. It is currently occupying approximately 15,000 square ft in the industrial park. Um it was uh built and uh initiated in approximately 2002 uh near the beginning of the industrial park. Um and then they did an an expansion to a second building in 2008. They have approximately 20 employees. um and uh they are generally engaged in high-end woodworking and con commercial and industrial applications. Um I unfortunately due to technical difficulties will not be presenting the beautiful PowerPoint that I assembled for this but we have some photos in there of their finished work um for places such as Harvard and Tubs University. Um the business is generally uh a benefit to the city of gardener. Its activities do not produce a substantial amount of waste and it's appropriately cited where it is. Um the expansion would be the most economically viable and convenient to them as it is the adjacent parcel. In the packet that you received, you have the survey plan of the particular parcel. You can see that it is a long parcel with a tail at the end and the tail is uh d the end of Dan Drive. Um the other end of the parcel uh abuts to the industrial park and it's right on the turn from Zub Lane to Suffach Lane. Um so my client's uh purpose in um submitting this petition is for his own expansion of his business. The city has to

consider whether the request is appropriate and beneficial for the city. um as the city uh exercises its zoning authority um that's generally its authority under the police power to provide for the public health public welfare or public safety. Um the the reszoning of this partial to um industrial one is for the general welfare of the city by increasing the economic opportunity and development available to the city um and increasing the amount of industrial land in a way that makes the best possible use of the city's existing facilities. There is um an industrial park as you know existing there. It has all of its facilities and utilities already brought in. Um it has parking available. It has um a private drive available and it is secluded um by wooded wooded parcels from the surrounding properties to the I if the um industrial park lies to the east. Uh to the west is Garden Gate. um apartments and metobrook village. Um and then to the south is uh the high highgate highgate uh wildlife management area. Um and that is a 170 acre parcel. Um and this is the top of it but on the vacant parcel that we are discussing. Um my client proposes to construct closest to the industrial park end. Um there is some indication of possible

wetlands in the middle of the parcel. Um and then towards the other end it peters out into the end of Dinan Drive. Dinan Drive, the first half of it is a public roadway. Um the back half of it which is a dead end uh is supposedly not a public way um but is currently maintained regularly by the city as part of D and Drive and so they are plowing they maintain the pavement. Um, it is my client's uh a plan if the parcel can be reszoned to request whether the city would like to take the rest of D and drive as a public way. Um, uh, since it's already maintaining it. Um, that tail end of D and Drive does provide does border two of the buildings uh with Garden Gate. Um so they are accessing via dine and drive but again that access is uh guar guaranteed it's it's by easement deed um and should the city decide in the future that it would like to dedicate that portion of D and drive as a public way since it's again already maintaining it um that would ensure um that any residents of Garden Gate would not have uh any blocked access although it's certainly not my client's intent. intention to do so. Um, there really is no intention to access the parcel at this point in time from Din Drive. It's all intended to come from Zublane in the industrial park since that's where all of the facilities are. Um, when you review uh the PowerPoint, you will see um some close-ups of the parcel, the zoning, the marking of the location of

um the proposed structure. not in any great detail because it is within the next 5 years. So, uh it's not going to be tomorrow. Um but uh you will also see laid out uh the abuing parcels in their various uses as I've described. Um what I would say about the potential for any impact due to the change in zone to the abutters is that again due to the large amount of unused land except for that little tiny tail end of D and Drive that surrounds this parcel um there is uh no real impact uh that would be felt by any of Butters just my client science and the benefits in increased taxes, increased development, increased opportunity for employment and other economic activity within the city. Um, I don't believe we have received any communications indicating uh an objection um to this petition. Um, I did want to address the question of whether or not this would constitute a spot zoning case. Um, because that does come up um when we single out a a parcel for treatment. Um, as I've said at the beginning, the city can uh really issue any constitutionally permissible zoning regulation and that is related to its police power. How does it help the city um to reszone this parcel? When we look at spot zoning, uh, spot zoning occurs when there is a parcel that is reszoned and it benefits the owner and no one else.

Um, so the classic example of spot zoning is we when we have a single parcel and that is reszoned as ind uh residential because somebody wants to build a home on it in a sea of commercial um commercial zones. So in other words, it's it's floating along on its own and the um single family residence doesn't have any wider impact on the city generally creates a dwelling unit. Um you probably get a little bit of increased taxes, but there's no other benefits associated with that. Um this is a different case because of the impact on the general welfare of the city in the terms of increased economic opportunity. In addition, what we are doing is sliding the zone boundary over not introducing some new boundary in the middle new parcel with a different zone all of its own. Um, this district does have a mix, as I said, of zones. So, it has the industrial park, which is IND1 with the solar overlay. Um it has a um kind of uh triangle pointy triangle that is zoned comm one that currently includes the parcel and then it is RR2 surrounding that. As it goes down 140 there is another industriallyzoned strip along 140. Um and just as a reminder, Dinan Drive comes out to 101 um just before the intersection with 140 so Pearl Street. Um again, uh when you have the visual to go along with it,

it'll be a lot clearer for you to look at. Um this is really uh it's it's a political request. Um it's a political resolution. The indication is whether or not the council and the planning board um believe this would be beneficial for the city and beneficial for the residents. Um as I've said, it's not spont zoning and it's within the constitutional power of the uh city of Gardner. Um so I would be happy to take any questions that anyone has. Um, but that is the gist of the proposal and I thank your tolerance and attention. I'm trying to follow councelor Brook's advice to keep it simple. Um, which I think is really keep it short and um, I hope that this presentation is better illuminated when you look at the visuals. Thank you. Thank you, Attorney. I declare the public hearing open for item 11591. Does anyone wish to be heard in favor of the proposed zoning amendment? Does anyone wish to be heard in favor of the proposed zoning amendment? Does anyone wish to be heard in favor of the proposed zoning amendment? Does anyone wish to be heard in opposition of the proposed zoning amendment? Does anyone wish to be heard in opposition of the proposed zoning amendment? Does anyone wish to be heard in opposition of the proposed zoning amendment? Are there any other questions or comments from city councilors or planning board members? Or would anyone else like to be heard on the matter?

I declare the joint public hearing now closed. Thank you. Thank you everyone for your time and for coming in today. Appreciate you. With that, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Motion made by councelor Tony, second by councelor Kazinskus to adjurnn. All those in favor? I. All those opposed, no. Motion passes. We stand adjourn. Thank you.