ATHOL — Athol Planning and Development Director Eric Smith recently took part in a virtual meeting to begin laying the groundwork for the creation of a downtown wayfinding plan, which is being funded by a grant from the Massachusetts Downtown Initiative. The MDI is overseen by the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
“Every time we have a Mass Downtown Initiative — or MDI — grant,” Smith said in an interview with the Athol Daily News, “the state always comes out, usually in person, but during COVID times it’s been more virtual. They kind of called this a ‘site visit’ or kickoff meeting. Basically, it’s a chance for the state’s representative to introduce the consultant to the town’s staff and the town team. Then we kind of go through the scope of services for the project.”
Those meeting with Smith included Emmy Hahn, program coordinator for MDI, and Mark Faverman of Faverman Design, the Boston-based consultant chosen by the state to work on the Athol project. The $25,000 grant received by Athol will be used to pay for Faverman’s services.
“Essentially, we have a process to go forward on this project,” said Smith. “Because of the Downtown Vitality Committee, we have already established a kind of advisory committee, which is what (Faverman) wants. Usually, when we have these MDI projects, the consultant works with the Downtown Vitality Committee, and we have project discussions during a good portion of our meetings. That’s what we’re going to do for about the next four months or so, so that it wraps up by June 30.”
“Wayfinding” is the current term used for the strategic placement of signs directing downtown visitors to municipal amenities, such as parking lots, as well as to points of interest. One of the first steps in establishing a wayfinding strategy is undertaking a mapping exercise to identify where signs should be located.
Smith said participants will also work on branding.
“‘Tool Town’ has kind of been the traditional theme of the town,” he said.
Among the scope of services in this process, steps include “refinement of a final logo/logotype and optional slogan as a community brand, (and) recommendations for placement and use of the town brand on wayfinding elements and other social media and town communications applications (website, Facebook, etc.).
Smith said Faverman is planning to attend the Feb. 8 meeting of the Downtown Vitality Committee.
“That will be sort of like a project kickoff meeting, in a sense,” he explained. “Some of the discussions of the Downtown Vitality Committee — I think it was Steve Wells who mentioned it, and he’s correct — if people are coming from the Uptown area, Route 2, or the Market Basket/North Quabbin Commons, and you want to direct them to the best place to go parking downtown, you actually should be sending them down School Street.
“So, it might be good to have some kind of signage there about downtown parking, because once they come down to Main Street and they want to go to the municipal lot or the lot across from the Y, then they have to kind of back track. That’s part of the whole wayfinding concept.”
The issue of branding, said Smith, is in a different category but both aspects go together.
Smith added there have been discussions to utilize wayfinding for visitors interested in ecotourism and those looking for hiking trails and similar amenities.
“As far back as 2010, when I was working as a Montachusett Regional Planning Commission member, I remember coming here and meeting with (then-Planning and Development Director) David Ames,” said Smith. “The town at that time was interested in trying to promote downtown and associate with some of the recreational areas, like the Tully area. Tully is mostly in Royalston, but if we can bring people to this area, then there’s a chance we can also get them to visit downtown.
“It’s all really up to the town to create what we really want to have, and we obviously want to have public input.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com