Overview:
Athol has been awarded a $250,000 Green Communities grant to pay for upgrades to three municipally-owned buildings, including the installation of rooftop heat pump units with propane backup for cold days. The fourth project is weatherization measures at the wastewater treatment plant. The upgrades will be carried out at the senior center, the Chamber of Commerce, and the veterans center.
ATHOL – The town will receive a $250,000 Green Communities grant to pay for upgrades to a pair of municipally-owned buildings.
“Three of the projects are putting in rooftop heat pump units with propane backup for really cold days,” said Planning and Development Director Eric Smith. “The town owns the building that includes the senior center, the Chamber of Commerce, and the veterans center. Those are the three that will get heat pumps. The fourth project is some weatherization measures at the wastewater treatment plant.”
The chamber and the veterans and senior centers are located at 80, 72 and 82 Freedom St., respectively, in the Lord Pond Plaza.
Smith said the veterans center is the newest tenant of the building, occupying the space that was once home to a Sherwin-Williams paint store.
“Last winter, over a year ago, they wanted me to stop by, meet them, and learn about some of the issues with the space there,” Smith said. “Some of those challenges were the heating and the cooling operations, to a degree, but especially the heating. It’s been rooftop propane heating, and when they were looking to see if they could get a heat pump unit without a cost to them or the taxpayers, they asked if it were possible to get a Green Communities grant to fund the project.”
Smith said there follow-up discussions with the Chamber of Commerce and senior center.
“We said, ‘If we’re going to do at the veterans center, perhaps we could do something here.’ There were some issues with the heating system at the senior center, so maybe it was fortuitous that we are getting this project for them, too,” he said.
The weatherization project at the treatment plant, said Smith, stems from an energy audit done for the town several years ago by RISE Engineering, which looked at Town Hall, the police station, and the treatment plant.
“The Town Hall is sort of like the elephant in the room regarding issues with the heating system here,” said Smith. “That’s still a work in progress. The police station got some weatherization first, as recommended, and the rooftop heat pump unit installed last summer….So, the weatherization at the treatment plant is kind of a recommendation and implementation measure from the audit.”
Smith explained that, because of the project expeditor provision, the exemption under Mass law for the Green Communities Program, Athol is not required to go out to bid to secure a contractor for the projects.
“We just got the contract documents at the beginning of the week from the Department of Energy Resources,” he added. “The town manager signed them, and now they’re in DER’s hands, and once we get signed contract issued, we’re allowed to work to get the project implemented. It seems most of these projects take place in the late spring or early summer.”