Gardner is a fairly small city. It does not need so many of these fast-food restaurants and gas stations. What it would really benefit from, if anything, is a gym.
While there is a gym in Gardner it is very small and often packed with people. The old Price Chopper would be a great spot to have a gym since the building is fairly big and easily accessible to many citizens in Gardner, but instead of being used for that, it’s just sitting there.
In my opinion, though, a gym is all that Gardner needs. While Gardner is a small town, meaning that it does not have every type of store in it, it’s near some bigger cities so it doesn’t need to be a big city as well. Most things outside of Gardner that people may need are about a 15-minute drive away, which is not very long.
Gardner should keep its advantage of being a small town while also being surrounded by conveniently larger cities instead of trying to expand. If it continues to grow like this it will soon lose that unique aspect and appeal of it.
If Gardner wants to keep expanding, however, it needs to consider its schooling situation. There is one high school for two cities filled with almost 2000 students. The hallways are packed during passing periods and even though Gardner is a small town, the school has so many kids that it’s hard to get to know everyone.
So, while I think that Gardner should stop growing into a bigger town with all the new restaurants and gas stations, if it does continue to grow, then I think a new high school is necessary. Making the existing high school larger is another possible option, but is not a viable long-term solution.
