Gardner City planning board adopts housing production plan to guide affordable housing

The Gardner City Planning Board voted on June 9 to adopt a final Housing Production Plan and to forward it to the city council and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) for review and approval.

Lily Kramer, community planner with Barrett Planning Group, presented the plan and said it combines a housing needs assessment, affordable-housing goals and implementation strategies. Kramer summarized the plan's key findings: Gardner has an aging population, more than half of its housing stock was built before 1960, and nearly one-third of households are housing cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of income on housing. Kramer also noted Gardner currently lists about 1,300 State Housing Inventory (SHI) units but warned some of those units could fall off the inventory by 2055 if affordability restrictions are not renewed.

The plan includes quantitative goals that align with EOHLC guidance: a 0.5% goal equivalent to about 47 units per year and a 1% goal equivalent to about 94 units per year. Kramer outlined strategies to meet those targets, including preserving and reusing existing housing stock, redeveloping significant sites identified in the municipal surplus property plan, targeted support for groups with elevated need (older adults, veterans, people with disabilities, extremely low-income households) and adjustments to zoning and permitting to encourage affordable development.

Board members raised no substantive amendments during the meeting. One planning board member said the plan and the recently adopted master plan and municipal surplus property plan "talk to each other" and praised the coordination among documents. Following the presentation, a board member moved to adopt the Housing Production Plan and send it toward City Council and EOHLC review; a second was recorded and the motion passed by voice vote.

Staff said the plan will be presented to the city council committee on June 24 and submitted to EOHLC after the needed local approvals. The board recorded the adoption vote but did not provide a roll-call tally in the meeting transcript.

The plan identifies barriers—including environmental constraints, zoning and rising construction costs—that the city says will need continued attention as implementation proceeds. The board's adoption creates an official local strategy the city can use when applying for housing and development grants and when pursuing regulatory changes.

The planning board adjourned after hearing a separate informational item about a Pearl Street development and confirming upcoming meeting logistics.