GARDNER — A group is trying to recall two members of the Gardner City Council who voted to end an agreement between the city and the developers of a giant intermodal freight center on the edge of the city. The group is targeting John Shepard and Mary Peters. The group said Gardner residents want the intermodal center. The council had voted 3-2 in favor of the agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Allen Group to develop the intermodal center. The city also annexed the proposed site. The agreement sparked a debate over the benefits of hundreds of jobs from the site versus the environmental and cultural costs of having the center next to residential neighborhoods. Voters turned out council members who voted for the agreement and replaced them with council members opposed to the deal. Then the council ended the agreement and de-annexed the site. However, the nearby city of Edgerton has signed an agreement with the railroad and developer and has been trying to annex the site.
