$1M matching grant to support fire suppression services at Orange Industrial Park

ORANGE — The town has received $1 million as part of a matching grant to provide fire suppression services at the Orange Industrial Park.

Orange is using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to supplement its award from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program of the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. The money will be used to construct a water tower to protect the businesses and hundreds of employees within the industrial park just off Daniel Shays Highway, remedying insurance challenges faced by employers within the park due to an aged water main system.

Alec Wade, Orange’s community development director, said the town is at the design and engineering phase and is expected to sign a contract with Weston & Sampson this week. He said he expects construction will begin in the summer, perhaps in August, and that businesses will have the vital resource at their disposal come 2023.

“We’re very excited to be able to do this without having to burden our taxpayers with the cost,” Wade said.

He said this project “is the kind of thing people like me go to school to learn step by step.” Wade defended his thesis and earned a master’s degree in regional planning, with a concentration in economic development, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst last year.

Wade said the Orange Office of Community Development is grateful to state Rep. Susannah Whipps, I-Athol, and state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, for 10 months of strong advocacy and Mike Kennealy, secretary of the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, for considering the need and granting this award.

“Not only does this grant support economic development in Orange, it increases the safety of those who work in this park,” Whipps said in a city press release. “The town of Orange, led by Alec Wade, stepped up and moved quickly to rectify this situation. I’m grateful that the Administration and Secretary Kennealy recognized the importance and urgency of this project.”

“I’m deeply grateful to the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development and the MassWorks program for providing much-needed funding,” Comerford said in the release. “This project will ensure worker safety and sustained economic well-being for the town of Orange.”

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.