Gardner wins and seeks state, federal grants for parks, sidewalks, and infrastructure

Gardner City epartment of Community Development and Planning briefed the Economic and Community Development Subcommittee on Feb. 13 about a series of awarded grants and pending applications that together fund downtown improvements, park work and safety upgrades.

Highlights of awarded and pending funding:

- South Gardner Village Center utility upgrades: Stevens said a $1,480,000 FY26 MassWorks MWIP award will be used to move overhead utility wires underground, repave and improve curb work along a downtown block (streets cited include East Bridal, Union, Prospect, Chelsea and High Street); execution of the contract awaits state completion of paperwork.

- Rear Main projects: Stevens described two related grants. A FY23 MassWorks project (north side) of about $4.1 million is ongoing with a contractor-stated substantial-completion date of May 31, 2026 for parking, a water feature, green space and undergrounding of utilities. A separate FY25 Housing Works infrastructure grant (south or remaining half) of roughly $3.5 million was described as upcoming; part of that site depends on acquiring parcels that Cumberland Farms had intended to gift but which a leasing company now seeks to sell. Stevens said the city is exploring GRA financing and a MassDevelopment loan; a committee member asked and Stevens provided a fair-market estimate of $455,000 for the parcel in question.

- CDBG awards and environmental checks: A $340,000 CDBG award was signed for Willow Street pedestrian improvements (crosswalk signage, lighting and accessibility enhancements) but the grant agreement with the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) is pending. A $122,000 CDBG award will fund fire-safety upgrades at the Waterford Community Center; Stevens reported radon testing at the site returned readings between roughly 0.4 and 0.7 (staff noted those are below the cited acceptable range of 2
nd 4 pCi/L), allowing the project to move forward. The Greenwood Memorial pavilion project was reclassified to use FY24 CDBG funds, with the award listed at $719,342.51; EOHLC granted approval to proceed using previously approved census-tract data tied to earlier LMI status.

- Trails and mobility planning: The city applied for a MassTrails planning grant (approx. $200,000 with a $50,000 municipal match) to plan the remainder of the North Central Pathway. Separately, a RAISE grant-funded downtown mobility plan of just over $1.2 million is awaiting FHWA contract language; the planning work may include preliminary engineering for a potential 4-story parking-structure site on West Street, though staff emphasized the work is planning and engineering only, not construction authorization.

- Keys Road culvert replacement: Stevens said the culvert serving 505 residents requires replacement. The city applied for a community culvert grant and an MVP grant; Stevens cited figures in the discussion that sum to about $2,014,000 for converting the culvert to a full bridge (speaker stated the community culvert award as "90,000 or $900,000" and the MVP request as $1,110,000). Stevens said multiple grants are being pursued because local funds alone cannot cover the full cost.

Stevens and the chair asked staff to include funding source labels (state, federal, etc.) in the published minutes for transparency. Several items remain pending until grant agreements or federal reviews are complete. The committee agreed to keep the items on the subcommittee agenda for ongoing quarterly updates.