The crowd showed up in apparent opposition to either the Zoning Change in general or to one proposal of a Racetrack. It was a short night as the meeting ended in 12 minutes.
Gardner MA Planning Board Will Meet Again on Zoning Issues – Information Sought
At a meeting attended by an overflow crowd and a Boston TV station, the Gardner Planning Board voted unanimously to postpone any action on 3 proposed Zoning Articles until the next meeting on September 19, 2023. Up for discussion was whether or not to recommend the rezoning of 2 parcels on Route 140 from residential to commercial, to increase number of possible marijuana establishments, and to add Sports Betting to Zoning table. Listen to this meeting on any device. CLICK PLAY.
Chairman Mark Schafron opened the meeting recommending the Planning Board get clarification from the City Law Department on a number of items related to the Route 140 land. He stated, “I would like a determination on spot zoning, because I think the argument could be made on both sides of the coin. Is this spot zoning? Maybe, Maybe not.” With regard to the status of the land he stated, “…with regard to article 97.. Article 97 of the amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution, which, and I quote, speaks to residents having a right to the quality of life that clean water and undeveloped open space can provide. There’s also some. I read it, and there’s also some parameters cited that are open to interpretation…. Is article 97 in play with this particular requested zoning change? Could be, maybe not. I don’t know.”
The Chairman stated he wanted to give an informed opinion to the City Council rather than guessing. The other 2 items relating to increasing the number of possible marijuana establishments and of adding Sports Betting to the Zoning Table were also postponed to September. It was noted that the proponent of all 3 articles, Dana Heath, was not in attendance, nor did the Board receive any additional materials. Trevor Beauregard responded in the affirmative when asked by Committee Chairman Schafron if the presence of Councilor Heath should be requested for the next meeting.
All 3 zoning articles had been under discussion before. First time, Mayor Nicholson made detailed presentations, but his request was deemed out or order as apparently it can’t come from the Mayor. 2nd time, it didn’t get further than the City Council as a request by 5 City Councilors was deemed a violation of the Open Meeting Law because they had expressed an opinion in their request and it was shared to a quorum of the Council via the packet prior to the meeting. So, the request from Councilor Dana Heath started the process all over again. He didn’t make submissions because the Planning Board already had the detailed information from before.