Town of Athol Athol, MA

Greening Lord Pond Plaza

Greening Lord Pond Plaza is a climate-resilient redevelopment project designed to address urban heat island effects, flooding, and biodiversity through nature-based solutions. The project also responds to community-identified needs by creating a new public gathering space, improving pedestrian and vehicular safety, and supporting existing and future downtown businesses.

BSC partnered with the Town of Athol through the Commonwealth’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program to advance the project from planning through design and construction. BSC supported the Town in securing three MVP grants that funded the project’s progression from early planning and concept development to final design and implementation.

Through the planning process, BSC helped identify funding options and scalable climate-resilient strategies to transform a downtown shopping plaza with a culverted stream into a community-centered living landscape. The design includes daylighting the stream and incorporating green infrastructure to address social, environmental, and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

In August 2024, the Town of Athol received a $3 million MVP Action Grant to support construction. BSC is providing construction administration services, with project completion anticipated in 2026.