Leominster Planning Board rejects Fairgrounds overlay petition, cites flaws and missing studies

LEOMINSTER -- June 16, 2025, Leominster Planning Board unanimously sends Fairgrounds racetrack overlay petition back to the City Council, finding it too flawed to recommend. The board voted at its June 16 meeting to recommend that the council accept petitioner Crossroads Office Park LLC's request to withdraw City Council Petition 47-25 without prejudice, citing a conflict with the existing floodplain ordinance section number, the absence of any height limit, no maximum impervious surface, no residential density standard, and the lack of required environmental, traffic, and fiscal impact studies. Planning Director Jason Murray's staff report noted that the only Massachusetts municipality allowing horse racing, Plainville, required a far more detailed enabling ordinance including minimum lot size, frontage, setbacks, coverage limits, building height caps, parking standards, a development impact statement, and a fiscal impact analysis. Board Chair Patrick Ferla said the board could not "work on conjecture," telling the crowd, "What was presented to us is inaccurate, and there are just too many questions to be answered." The board separately voted unanimously to recommend denial of Petition 41-25, a citizen petition to formally ban horse and dog racing citywide, on grounds that the prohibition is already in effect under a September 24, 2024, zoning regulation barring any unlisted use. Attorney Tom LaVinze, representing the petitioner, said the intent is to refile a corrected petition with special permit standards and required studies included. The City Council was scheduled to hear both petitions on June 23, 2025, with 2,500 petition signatures filed in support of 47-25 in the clerk's office.