Town of Athol Athol, MA

Greening Lord Pond Plaza

Greening the Lord Pond Plaza is designed to address urban heat island effect flooding and biodiversity through nature-based solutions. This project provides co-benefits to the town through community identified needs such as a new public gathering space, improved vehicular and pedestrian safety, and support for existing and future business uses.

BSC worked with the Town of Athol, through the Commonwealth’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program, to design this project. Through the planning process, we identified funding options and multiple levels of possible change toward climate-resilient solutions, for turning a downtown shopping plaza with a culverted stream into a community center and living landscape. The design calls for daylighting the stream with open space that features green infrastructure solutions while addressing social, environmental, and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

In August 2024, the Town received a $3 million MVP Action Grant for the construction of this project. BSC is contracted to provide construction administration services. The project is estimated for completion in 2026.