Leominster Commission Approves River Bank Armor Plan Over One Dissent

LEOMINSTER -- June 9, 2026, Leominster Conservation Commission votes 5-1 to approve a contested North Nashua River bank stabilization plan while unanimously greenlighting new mountain bike trails and a 16-unit mixed-use development. At the June 9 meeting, the commission issued an order of conditions for the city's bank armoring project at 135 and 230 Commercial Road, DEP 199-1230, filed by DPW Chief Raymond Racine; the plan calls for 18-inch riprap to protect an exposed sewer main, with a special condition requiring immediate notification if scouring or undermining is detected. One commissioner voted no, pressing for a city-wide strategy on river infrastructure rather than repeated site-by-site armoring. The commission also unanimously approved a Notice of Intent from Pleasant Leominster Apartments LLC for a mixed-use building with 16 apartments above ground-floor office space plus townhouse units at 68-72 Pleasant Street, and authorized two new NEMBA single-track trail sections at Pierce Street Conservation Area that would roughly triple available trail mileage. Certificates of compliance were issued for a flood-demolished home at 208 Pleasant Street and two single-family homes at 699 and 711 Willard Street.