ATHOL – Members of the Athol Selectboard were asked Tuesday what the town should do with the 100.9-acre parcel of property it owns off of South Athol Road but seemed to struggle to come up with specific suggestions for the property purchased by the town in 2009.
“Does anybody have any ideas what they would like to do with this?” board Chairman Alan Dodge asked. “Do we want to keep it, sell it? It’s something we should talk about. Should we just hold onto it for now and let it sit as is?”
“Let’s hold onto it for now,” board member Stephen Raymond responded.
“I think we should hold onto it,” added Andy Sujdak, “but I also think we should look into some of the resources that are there. I know that property is loaded with the good South Athol gravel. I know that property is loaded with good timber, and timber’s got a market now. I think we need to get some ideas along those lines before we think about letting it go.”
The dialogue seemed to end regarding the property as the board then moved on to the topic of goal setting for Town Manager Shaun Suhoski, but Suhoski managed to bring the discussion back to the Bidwell site, which he linked to another issue he sees as a priority for Athol.
“I talked about this today with Planning and Public Works,” said Suhoski. “We were just kind of going over the various projects that are in development under those departments.”
Gesturing to Dodge, Suhoski continued, “Alan you brought this up six years ago, right? We were talking long term. What are we going to do with Bidwell? And we got some draft documents and illustrative drawings; and the ideas we’ve had (for the property) are mixed use, tiny houses, fire station, trailhead, farmers market, sell it to the private sector, mine the natural resources for profit, outdoor uses, trails, business park, assisted living facility.”
Suhoski said he and Planning and Development Director Eric Smith, Public Works Director Dick Kilhart, and DPW Assistant Director Paul Raskevitz had come up with a general strategy for moving the issue forward.
“I’ve listed,” Suhoski continued, reading from his notes of their meeting, “convene and coordinate with the Planning Department, and others — the public — public visioning and planning process for future use and disposition of … the Bidwell site. If we do that, if we take (the board’s) advice now, we hold it, we consider the natural resources, we fold it into a longer-term vision. We want community buy-in. I think we could get a vendor to do a planning charrette like we did for Silver Lake Park. Eric could participate and we could also use our regional planning partners.”
A charrette is a meeting at which all stakeholders in a project brainstorm strategies, attempt to resolve conflicts, and, hopefully, come up with a plan of action.
Suhoski then transitioned into what he called a “subset” of planning for the Bidwell property; specifically, creation of a new Route 2 interchange at South Athol Road. For several years, town officials have argued a new interchange would facilitate economic development while easing traffic congestion on the main roads leading into Athol. About two months ago, an application for a grant to undertake a feasibility study of the proposal was rejected by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“Is it needed?” Suhoski asked rhetorically. “I think in ten years you’re going to wish that you had it. Anyway, I’m considering that as sort of a subset with Bidwell as we look at South Athol Road and Route 2. They’re kind of linked, but we have a public process to really talk through that.”
Even though U.S. DOT turned down the grant application for the feasibility study, Suhoski said other opportunities to secure funding for such a study will be pursued.
“Something like that is a long time coming,” Suhowksi said. “It’s going to be a lot of money. I’m not sure MassDOT is going to put it at the top of their list just because Athol wants it, but we’ve got to try. We have to come to a decision. That’s why I’m linking those two together.”
“So,” asked Dodge, “if we use that property for something else would we have to forego that Route 2 ramp?”
“No,” board member Kara Fisher replied. “They’re both in the same part of town, so why not link them in some way?”
“Whether it’s housing or commuter traffic versus truck traffic, it would help,” said Suhoski.
The proposed interchange has been a topic of discussion for local officials for more than two decades. Suhoski said the first mention of the proposal that he has seen is on a planning document generated in 1999.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.