Elected Officials In Athol Celebrate the Removal of A Downtown Parking Lot

On Wednesday, various state and local elected officials gathered in the central Massachusetts hill town of Athol to celebrate the removal of a blighted town-owned parking lot and the verdant new park that’s taken its place.

StreetsblogMASS covered Athol’s Mill Brook Crossing project earlier this spring, when it was still under construction. The project ripped up large sections of a 1960s-era strip mall parking lot in order to unearth and restore Mill Brook, which had been buried in a pipe for half a century.

Now, the project is officially complete, and local and state officials gathered for an official ribbon-cutting on Wednesday among the new trees and shrub plantings that are thriving alongside the exhumed stream.

Athol Orange Community Television was there to film the proud speeches and capture some gorgeous b-roll footage of the new greenery:

Bill Chaisson, the Chair of Athol’s Board of Selectmen, rattled off a long list of project benefits from a podium next to a young tree on the newly-built stream bank.

“There’s now approximately 12,000 square feet of new wetlands, along with pollinator and wildlife habitat. We increased flood storage capacity by converting approximately 53,000 square feet of pavement to vegetated areas, which increases infiltration,” said Chaisson.

“Perhaps the most important thing in all of this, is we’ve improved pedestrian safety, traffic safety, by eliminating the open parking lot that was becoming a drag strip and had no traffic pattern whatsoever,” added Chaisson.