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Director urges dual use of MRPC and CMRPC for Gardner planning and grant support
Summary
Staff recommended Gardner keep the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) as its lead planner while leveraging the Central Massachusetts RPC (CMRPC) for economic development and grant assistance, noting MRPC’s local transportation and hazard mitigation role and CMRPC’s capacity for urban revitalization and grant collaboration.
Director Stevens presented a comparison of the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) and the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) and recommended the city maintain MRPC as Gardner’s lead planning partner while also engaging CMRPC for specialized economic and downtown revitalization work.
Stevens told the committee MRPC serves 22 communities (including Gardner) and specializes in transportation planning, hazard mitigation and brownfields redevelopment. She said MRPC is statutory as Gardner’s Metropolitan Planning Organization partner for regional transportation matters and has long-standing local knowledge of the Montachusett area.
By contrast, Stevens said CMRPC serves about 40 Central Massachusetts communities (not including Gardner in its core membership) and is stronger in economic development, corridor revitalization, housing production and grant collaboration. She noted CMRPC’s staff have been heavily in demand for CDBG and other grant assistance and that their availability can be constrained by demand from many communities.
Her strategic recommendation was to “maintain MRPC as the lead planner” for routine and statutory planning responsibilities while drawing on CMRPC for niche economic development work, downtown revitalization strategies and grant application support. Committee members agreed the approach made sense and suggested keeping CMRPC on the calendar to report back after training sessions with new staff.
