Project Details
Project Title
Future Resilient Field at Derby
Municipality
Bolton
MVP Region
Central
Award Year
FY2025
Grant Award
$488,824 ($25,254 spent)
Project Length
One Year
Community Overview
- Bolton has a population of 5,665 and is located in Central Massachusetts.
- Bolton has vulnerable communities including Seniors and youth populus.
- Bolton is characterized by its approximate12,800 acres, over 92% is zoned “Residential” and roughly 41.35% of the total is under watershed or wetlands protection, leaving a small amount of land zoned for commercial and industrial activity. This allocation is as intended, reflects past and currently expressed resident sentiment that Bolton does not actively seek commercial development or reduce lot size to increase density and concomitant tax base. Bolton’s low residential density is due in part to the absence of distributed water and sewer infrastructure, and the specific minimum lot size.
- Bolton is home to many small-scale owner-operated farms and commercial Farms; Bolton Spring Farm, Bolton Orchards, Schartner Farm and Nicewicz Farm. Produce is distributed throughout various farmers markets but mostly depend on pick your own practices which sell the produce while drawing individuals into the Bolton community for a period of time. These orchards produce a broad variety of apples and peaches, with adjunct farm operations producing grapes, pumpkins, feed corn and a rich spread of vegetable crops. Several farm stores, markets, and self-serve stands add much more to the local economy than just sales revenues, as residents can often “eat local” and sustain Bolton’s viability and health in multiple ways without the need for a trip out of town.
- Residential neighborhoods are interspersed in and in close proximity to the Town’s Forest and wetland areas, providing a wonderful natural setting for residents but representing major challenges during extreme weather events due to downed power lines, local flooding, and other climate-related risks.
Project Description and Goals
- Where was the project located?
- Adjacent School buildings, Senior Housing and proposed 40B development off of 100 Mechanic Street Bolton, Ma 01740
- What climate change impacts did the project address?
- Reduced food safety and security, and loss of urban tree cover.
- What were the specific goals and tasks of the project?
- Change land management practices for park area/fields through management strategies that help reduce carbon emissions, increase climate resilience, and strengthen our ecosystems while engaging the whole community in creating climate solutions.
- The aim was to use workshops, discussions, installations and management plans to serve as models for other communities.
- Did your project meet the goals:
- The project met some of the goals set forth in our application.
- Unfortunately, not all were met due to the bids coming in significantly over budget and therefore rendering the proposed project and associated scope application no longer feasible.
Results and Deliverables
Provide a brief summary of project deliverables with web links, if available.
The team was able to continue work with our Community Liaison (hired through this project) to finalize outreach information for the workshops, and finalize related signage to be installed on site. Deliverables include:
- Tree and Shrub species signage
- Project Information Summary Signage
- Workshop Outreach Signage
- Excel workbook of invitees from community for workshops
- Assessment of existing well
- Bid packages
Lessons Learned
- What lessons were learned as a result of the project?
- Even with quotes of individual components for a project, the overall bid may incorporate pricing that you cannot account for from individual companies. This may cause a significant price gap in what was anticipated as the budgeted project amount and the actual cost.
- Hiring a Community Liaison should be the first step once the award announcement is no longer embargoed to ensure the individual(s) may have adequate time to integrate as part of the team vs. solely completing assignments.
- What is the best way for other communities to learn from your project/process?
- The best way for other communities to learn from your project/process would be to review our project website and associated deliverables. Lastly, reaching out directly to representatives of our project team is an acceptable way to learn from the project/process.
Partners and Other Support
Municipal Staff including but not limited to:
- Department of Public Works
- Conservation
- Planning
- Parks and Recreation
- Town Administrator
- School district leaders