ATHOL – In late March, the town signed a $2.8 million contract with the construction firm of J. Bates & Son to revamp Lord Pond Plaza, a project that includes the daylighting of Mill Brook.

Now, those who stop by the plaza can see a section of Mill Brook that is again open to the light of day. The stream has been running beneath the asphalt of the six-acre parking lot since the plaza was constructed in the early 1960s.

The project is funded by a $3 million Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant awarded to the town last August. A third of the grant was given to the town in the current fiscal year, with the remaining $2 million due to be paid out in FY26. The town has budgeted an additional $100,000 to cover the cost of anything that may need to be done by the Department of Public Works. The project is expected to be completed by June of next year.

“With all the effort and meetings and plans,” said Director of Planning and Development Eric Smith, “it is nice to see this thing finally coming around.”

The project evolved from the town’s initial introduction to the MVP program during a public meeting in April 2020. Since then, BSC Group, a Boston-based engineering firm, has been involved in developing plans for the greening of Lord Pond Plaza. The final design was presented to the public in May 2023.

In addition to the daylighting of Mill Brook, the plan calls for creation of wetlands, a significant amount of green space and pollinator gardens. The finished product will also include space for community events and aims to increase the safety of traffic moving through the plaza.

“Once it got warm enough for the construction season to start, they had to get going. So, it’s coming together,” said Smith. “There are always a few quirks that they’re finding but they’re all being worked on. But I’m really happy with how this is coming together.”

Smith said the plan called for daylighting of the stream to be the first step of the project, “then they’ll stabilize the slopes, and then eventually work on improving the driveways and adding in the sidewalks.”

A portion of the site will be left for green space in order to reduce the environmental impact of the existing parking lot, which becomes a significant heat island in the middle of downtown Athol during the summer months.

The BSC website says of its work with the town: “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.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.