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Gardner Planning Board continues Mount Wachusett College site hearing, schedules joint zoning hearings with City Council
Summary
The Gardner City Planning Board continued a public hearing on a redesign for Mount Wachusett Community College at 42 Alignison Avenue and voted to schedule joint public hearings with the City Council on two zoning ordinance amendments affecting college kitchens in residential districts.
The Gardner City Planning Board on Oct. 14 voted to continue the public hearing on Mount Wachusett Community College’s proposed project at 42 Alignison Avenue and set a joint public hearing with the City Council on two zoning ordinance amendments.
Board members said the applicant will submit a revised design next week to address stormwater and floodplain concerns noted in staff and city engineer comments. “Mid next week, I’ll share them with the board,” a staff member said, and the board moved to continue the hearing to its November meeting to review that redesign.
The action matters because the project site is in a mapped floodplain and the board and city engineer raised stormwater-management questions during their review. The Planning Board also voted to schedule joint public hearings with the City Council on two proposed ordinance amendments — docketed as item 11688 and item 11704 — that would amend Chapter 675 of the Code of the City of Gardner to allow the operation or use of college kitchens in a residential district.
During the meeting a staff member recommended taking items 11688 and 11704 together and said November 3 would be the best date for a joint hearing, with timing tentatively set for 6:30 p.m. to allow the City Council’s regular meeting to follow. The board approved scheduling a joint hearing; members later confirmed the Planning Board’s regular November meeting would be Nov. 4.
The board also approved a correction to the minutes from its prior meeting, changing the recorded date to Sept. 9, and approved those minutes by voice vote.
The board did not take final action on the zoning amendments or the college redesign on Oct. 14. The applicant’s redesign and any subsequent staff recommendations will return to the Planning Board for review at its November meeting and will then proceed through the joint public hearing process with the City Council.
The Planning Board meeting ended after officers moved to adjourn.
