ATHOL – Massachusetts Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) Secretary Ed Augustus and Executive Office of Economic Development (EOED) Director of Rural Affairs Anne Gobi were in Athol Tuesday morning for a briefing on efforts to revitalize downtown Athol and nearby neighborhoods.

State Sen. Jo Comerford and state Rep. Susannah Whipps were also on hand for the meeting, which was facilitated by Town Manager Shaun Suhoski, with assistance from Planning and Development Director Eric Smith.

Suhoski told officials about three main areas targeted for improvement. These included the area around the parking lot off of Main and Exchange streets, Lord Pond Plaza, and the Canal Street neighborhood.

“We’re trying to leverage federal and state funds,” Suhoski said, “and we’ve put local Chapter 90 and other funds into these projects as well.

“The Millers River is something we want to take better advantage of downtown,” the town manager continued.

The town, he said, envisions creating a waterfront park along the river on the site of a former toy factory. That factory was destroyed by fire about 15 years ago, according to Suhoski, and the area is designated a brownfields site containing asbestos and PCBs. A neighboring privately-owned parcel the town is looking at also likely has asbestos contamination.

Suhoski added that a nearby former bicycle manufacturing facility could be a site for new housing, as detailed in a Housing Production Plan completed for the town several years ago. Both the bike manufacturer and toy factory site have been taken by the town through tax title, which is often done due to unpaid taxes.

“So far the only investments we’ve made are town funds,” said Suhoski, “and some EPA direct assistance to deal with the asbestos, and we’re doing the PCBs in the spring.”

Selectboard member Rebecca Bialecki said “On the two previous developments we’ve gotten permitted, we didn’t have a lot of pushback. There was some pushback on the Riverbend/Ellen Bigelow schools, mainly because people were using (the site) for parking their private vehicles. We said, ‘This is really going to clean up your neighborhood and your property values are going to go up, not down, and you can find someplace else to park.’”

“Do you know the full extent of the contamination on the (privately held) site?” asked Augustus.

Smith explained the town is hoping to use brownfield assessment funds for that purpose, providing the owner allows the town’s contractor onto the property.

Suhoski detailed plans for the “greening” of Lord Pond Plaza, including the daylighting of Mill Brook, which currently runs beneath the shopping center’s parking lot. After years of planning, he explained, the town will be putting the project out to bid this month. In addition to unveiling the brook, plans call for creation of substantial amounts of green space where there currently is nothing but asphalt, along with safety improvements.

“It’s an estimate $3 million project,” Suhoski added. “It’s a climate resiliency project – a legitimate one – which will eliminate an urban heat island, create additional flood storage capacity, and it will clean this place up.”

Suhoski concluded by discussing plans for the downtown parking lot area, including construction of a privately funded, 43-unit housing development on the site of the long-closed municipal parking garage, as well as the possible demolition of the former York Theatre/Lucky Lanes building. The structure, taken by tax title by the town last year, is in severe disrepair.

The officials, which also included North Quabbin Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Melissa Eaton, then walked to the parking area off Main and Exchange streets, where Suhoski pointed out other dilapidated buildings – including the former Plotkins furniture building – that could possibly be redeveloped for housing.

“Is the goal to create more density downtown, more bodies, are you trying to use housing as a piece of the puzzle to do that?” Augustus asked. “You want more people downtown to increase the demand for retail?”

“We need some market rate renters in the downtown to support the kind of businesses and shops we’d really love to attract,” Bialecki responded. “Right now, the only downtown housing is low-income. That’s difficult because they’re not going to come out and support a lot of restaurants, or boutiques, or unique shopping sites.”

Augustus suggested putting together information regarding some of the problem properties downtown and look at how to market them. He also floated the possibility of offering his assistance in putting together a roundtable with some of the developers the state works with who could suggest various strategies for the redevelopment of downtown Athol.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.