Mayor Nicholson indicated that if this first stage $3.6 million RAISE grant was approved, then next year the City would apply for the remainder of the $15 million for the full project. Details are on pages 39 to 51 of the City Council Agenda of 2-5-24
Meanwhile, the plan Mayor Nicholson has put in place is for the 3rd party contractor to search for other available grant funding. More grants means less cost to taxpayers.
Gardner MA Mayor Nicholson’s Bet for the City may pay off BIG
If approved, the $15 million RAISE discretionary grant from the United States Department of Transportation would mean the $60k bet the City Council made on a 3rd party grant contractor would pay back 250 times the approved budget on this project alone. The City of Gardner has received tens of millions of dollars in grant funding since Michael Nicholson became Mayor and more miles of road have been paved in the last 3 years than in a decade. It’s is a trend the current Mayor is hoping will continue with this 2 stage grant for a West Street multi-level parking garage intended to solve expected parking issues due to growth in Downtown Gardner.
The City Council on February 5th approved a resolution which takes the City to the first step, a $3.6 million dollar grant. According to Mayor Nicholson, “ What this covers is a full parking study of the downtown. This goes from everything to do we stay with parking meters, do we move with kiosks, is there a different type of technology out there that we can use or should we move through just free parking in general? Additionally, the completion of the work on Rear Main Street. We do anticipate that the groundbreaking for the project will take place sometime this calendar year. However, there are some cost overages that we are anticipating with that, so applying for the funds to finish out that project so that the additional items that were cut from the original design can now be added back into that design, and, the funding of a full design of a four-story parking garage above the West Street parking lot.”