[0:09] Order the meeting of the Gardener City

[0:10] Council and the Planning Board to order

[0:12] for the purpose of a joint public

[0:14] hearing regarding an amendment to

[0:15] chapter 675 of the Kota City Gardener.

[0:18] The joint public hearing notice reads as

[0:21] follows.

[0:24] Pursuant to general laws 40A subsection

[0:26] 5, notice is hereby given that the city

[0:30] council and planning board will conduct

[0:32] a joint public hearing on Monday, April

[0:34] 6, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the city council

[0:38] chamber, room 219, city hall, 95

[0:40] Pleasant Street, Gardener, to consider

[0:43] amending chapter 675, the zoning code of

[0:45] the city of Gardner. The proposed

[0:47] amendment involves changing item 11772,

[0:51] an ordinance to amend the code of the

[0:52] city of Gardner, chapter 675, thereof

[0:54] entitled zoning, to remove article 9,

[0:57] thereof entitled signs and advertising

[0:59] devices, and move it to a new nonzoning

[1:02] chapter to be numbered chapter 665.

[1:05] Information regarding these amendments

[1:07] and associated maps are available for

[1:08] viewing in the city clerk's office, the

[1:11] department of community development and

[1:12] planning, or on the city's web page,

[1:14] www.gardner gardener-mma.gov.

[1:17] All persons interested in this matter

[1:19] and desire to offer testimony are

[1:21] invited to attend the hearing. TTCF,

[1:23] city clerk.

[1:26] The clerk will now please do a roll

[1:28] call.

[1:28] >> Councelor Brooks,

[1:29] >> present.

[1:30] >> Council Craig Cormier,

[1:31] >> present.

[1:31] >> Council General Owitz,

[1:32] >> present.

[1:33] >> Council Harder,

[1:34] >> present.

[1:34] >> Council Heath,

[1:35] >> present.

[1:36] >> Council Heg,

[1:36] >> present.

[1:37] >> Council Kazinskus,

[1:38] >> present.

[1:39] >> Council Math,

[1:40] >> present. Council Tone,

[1:43] >> Council Tibbo Munos,

[1:44] >> present.

[1:45] >> President Tyrus,

[1:46] >> present.

[1:47] >> Mr. Paul Cormier,

[1:49] >> present.

[1:50] >> Mr. Steven Cormier,

[1:51] >> present.

[1:52] >> Mr. Eric Flint,

[1:53] >> present.

[1:53] >> And Mr. Bob Sorts,

[1:55] >> present.

[1:57] >> Both bodies have quorum. At this time,

[1:59] I'd request a report from the mayor or

[2:01] director of community development.

[2:08] » Thank you very much, Mr. President,

[2:09] thank you to Councelor Mack for ask

[2:10] inviting me to be a uh co-sponsor of

[2:12] this ordinance before you here today and

[2:14] provide the administration's uh opinion

[2:17] on the ordinance change that is before

[2:19] you here today. Uh as I said in the uh

[2:21] subcommittee meeting that met on this

[2:23] ordinance item before you. Uh there are

[2:26] no actual

[2:29] uh verbiage changes in the language that

[2:31] before you. the the ordinance that's

[2:32] before you would take the signed section

[2:35] of the zoning code that currently exists

[2:37] in chapter 675 and remove it from the

[2:40] zoning code and place it into a regular

[2:41] general ordinance of the uh city code.

[2:45] And the reason for that uh is based off

[2:48] of the feedback that we've received from

[2:49] several different businesses who have

[2:50] been looking at opening businesses here

[2:52] in Gardener who have opened businesses

[2:53] here in Gardener and talking about the

[2:55] different regulations around signage for

[2:57] the businesses that they have and how

[2:59] that's really stunted, stalled or added

[3:01] costs to the developments as they've

[3:03] tried to open up here in Gardener. Uh,

[3:05] as we know through the process that

[3:06] we're currently going through right now,

[3:08] the process of amending a zoning

[3:10] ordinance is designed to be drawn out

[3:13] because you're looking for increased

[3:15] public input. You're looking for

[3:16] increased uh feedback,

[3:19] but at the same time, you need to

[3:21] balance the public good of getting that,

[3:24] you know, feedback in a longer period of

[3:25] time versus the experience that's on the

[3:29] ground being happened with the

[3:30] businesses that we have at the moment.

[3:31] And when you balance those to get the

[3:33] greater public good that we have in the

[3:34] end of basically trying to get more

[3:36] businesses in here because it does help

[3:37] us financially. It does help our

[3:38] residents here find ways to stay here uh

[3:41] to work, live and play here. Something

[3:43] as simple as putting a sign on a

[3:45] business to advertise that business can

[3:46] really make or break a project during

[3:48] its balance sheet phase uh or make

[3:51] someone realize that a business is even

[3:52] there and help that business last

[3:53] longer. Uh and I'll give you a couple of

[3:56] examples as to what really brought this

[3:58] to life. Um, back in the 2010s, uh, when

[4:02] Tiffany Crossroads first opened, the 99

[4:04] restaurant had its, uh, groundbreaking

[4:06] in 2018. So, we're going back around

[4:08] that time frame. Uh, Tiffany Crossroads

[4:11] ran into a lot of issues with the

[4:12] dimensions that have honestly not been

[4:15] updated uh, for quite some time for the

[4:17] dimensions of the signage into the

[4:18] plaza, the dimensions of the signage

[4:19] that could go on the buildings uh, for

[4:21] the businesses that were there. uh

[4:23] adding uh some extra time for cost with

[4:26] engineering, cost with design work, cost

[4:28] with the sign companies to rework the

[4:29] signage that had to be done both for the

[4:31] entrance in and out of the plaza itself.

[4:33] Uh the signs that could be visible to

[4:35] advertise for the plaza uh and the signs

[4:37] that could go on the businesses that are

[4:39] there. Uh you go back a little bit

[4:41] before that in the 2015 2016 uh time

[4:44] frame, we had the uh Bank of America uh

[4:47] kiosk that was put in at the Price

[4:49] Chopper lot and the way that the signage

[4:50] around the Bank of America kiosk could

[4:52] go. Uh then in the 2020s, we launched

[4:55] our side and facade improvement grant

[4:57] program that we did through the American

[4:58] Rescue Plan funds. We ended up having to

[5:02] advertise that we had that sign grant a

[5:04] lot more than we had to do the facade

[5:06] grants. And the reason being for that is

[5:08] uh the feedback we were getting in real

[5:09] time from property owners in the city

[5:11] because the property owners had to be

[5:12] the one to sign off on both the sign and

[5:14] the facade applications was that it was

[5:16] easier under zoning to update the

[5:18] facades to make the buildings look good

[5:19] than it was to deal with the sign

[5:21] regulations that we had and the review

[5:23] process and everything that had to go

[5:24] with that. It made it so that we uh went

[5:27] through the facade money that was about

[5:29] four or five times more than what we had

[5:30] set aside for sign money in about a

[5:33] month, month and a half where it took us

[5:35] two years to go through the sign

[5:38] improvement program where businesses we

[5:39] offered uh 2 uh $2,500 per sign to help

[5:45] uh advertise for a business. And we

[5:46] ended up having money left over in the

[5:47] account that got turned back to the

[5:48] federal government because we did not

[5:50] have people who were interested in that

[5:52] program with the biggest feedback being

[5:53] like, I'd love to do it. I really need a

[5:55] new sign. I just can't go through the

[5:57] process that was there. Uh that we saw

[5:59] with businesses that wanted to do

[6:01] perpendicular signage downtown rather

[6:04] than just uh parallel to the road. We

[6:06] saw that with businesses that were

[6:07] looking at uh doing illuminated signs

[6:10] and have signs that had some type of

[6:11] light on the back that wouldn't be on

[6:13] all night but just have some type of

[6:14] light that's currently prohibited uh

[6:16] under the current zoning code because

[6:17] you can't have certain illuminations on

[6:19] a sign after a certain time frame but

[6:21] the businesses end up staying open past

[6:22] that. So they had to go to the old sign

[6:24] where the light shown on the sign rather

[6:26] than the sign itself being lit. There

[6:28] were uh Sawa uh Asian Beastro that uh

[6:32] just opened over on West Broadway was

[6:34] three inches over what the zoning code

[6:36] allowed uh and had either had to spend

[6:38] money to order a new sign, had to go

[6:41] through a variance process where they

[6:42] had to hire an attorney and spend money

[6:43] that way or just saw the sign 3 in off

[6:46] but that would ruin the lettering uh

[6:48] that was on the sign process that was

[6:49] there. So the sign ended up being almost

[6:51] a year after it was uh ordered before it

[6:53] was eventually hung up again. And the

[6:55] regulations are there for a reason. I

[6:57] don't think anyone thinks that we should

[6:59] get rid of all regulations when it comes

[7:00] to signage around the city because the ordinance is there for a reason and

[7:04] we want to make sure things look clean

[7:06] and look good and are done the right

[7:07] way. But that doesn't mean that we're

[7:09] operating in the best gardener open for

[7:11] business atmosphere. And by moving this

[7:14] from the zoning code into the general

[7:17] code, it allows for a easier turnaround

[7:20] time that we can take that live feedback

[7:22] that we're getting from these businesses

[7:24] and in some cases a reason why some

[7:27] businesses don't choose to come to

[7:29] gardener because if you can't properly

[7:30] advertise for your business, why would

[7:32] you open your business? And making it so

[7:34] that we can update that in real time so

[7:36] we can be more willing to work with

[7:37] people on a more timely basis. There's

[7:40] still opportunities for public feedback

[7:41] as this would still have to go through

[7:43] the regular legislative process if it

[7:44] was to be changed. Uh there would still

[7:47] be opportunities for public input in

[7:49] that uh this would still be a public

[7:51] meeting whether it be before uh standing

[7:53] committee, the city council uh the

[7:56] opportunity to uh contact either the

[7:58] mayor's office or counselors throughout

[7:59] a process for uh input that way. It just

[8:02] makes it so that it's a more uh flexible

[8:05] way of updating the sign code that we

[8:07] have here in the city to make it so that

[8:09] uh we really are uh being amendable to

[8:11] the business community that is taking an

[8:13] interest in gardener but has slowed over

[8:14] recent years and this based off of the

[8:17] feedback that we've been getting as that

[8:18] slowing has happened. This is one of the

[8:20] main things that comes up in almost

[8:21] every conversation that we've had. So

[8:23] I'm happy to answer any further

[8:24] questions uh that people may have on the

[8:26] matter or uh uh take any feedback to.

[8:28] Thank you. Thank you,

[8:28] >> Mr. Mayor.

[8:32] I declare the public hearing open and

[8:34] ask councilors or planning board members

[8:36] to hold their questions until citizens

[8:38] have had the opportunity to speak. Does

[8:41] anyone wish to be heard in favor of the

[8:42] proposed zoning amendment?

[8:45] Does anyone wish to be heard in favor of

[8:46] the proposed zoning amendment?

[8:49] Does anyone wish to be heard in favor of

[8:50] the proposed zoning amendment?

[8:53] Does anyone wish to be heard in

[8:55] opposition of the proposed zoning

[8:56] amendment? Does anyone wish to be heard

[8:59] in opposition of the proposed zoning

[9:00] amendment? Does anyone wish to be heard

[9:03] in opposition proposed zoning amendment?

[9:08] Are there any questions or comments from

[9:09] counselors or planning board members?

[9:14] » Council Mac.

[9:15] >> Thank you. Um, as the, uh, co-sponsor of

[9:20] this um, ordinance with the mayor, um, I

[9:22] just want to highlight again that I

[9:24] think in a lot of different ways, city

[9:26] hall is be trying to become more

[9:27] businessfriendly. Uh, we are trying to,

[9:30] uh, streamline the permit process. Um,

[9:33] and by doing this, we need to focus and

[9:35] make city hall much more supportive to

[9:37] businesses and not uh, resist or become

[9:40] a hindrance. Thank you.

[9:41] >> Thank you, counselor. Does anyone else

[9:43] wish to be heard on the matter?

[9:47] I declare the joint public hearing

[9:48] closed. Thank you.

Joint City Council & Planning Board Public Hearing April 6, 2026

Transcript