Civil and Municipal - Mar 2023

42 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 In addition to its protected open spaces, Ashland has several green initiatives underway to help reduce its energy use and carbon footprint. The town has a goal of becoming net zero by 2040. To help achieve that goal, in 2014, the town implemented an energy savings performance contract, which enabled them to convert all municipal buildings and street lights to LEDs, as well as make boiler and HVAC improvements. They also moved forward on three solar projects on town-owned properties and are in the process of converting their municipal fleet to electric vehicles. While conservation is a priority for Ashland, that doesn’t mean business and development have fallen by the wayside. The town is in the process of making a more than $150 million investment into its public infrastructure. “We’re revitalizing our downtown, we are completely redoing a two-mile stretch of highway between Holliston and Framingham, we’re putting the finishing touches on a new public safety building, which will open up the police and fire stations downtown in prime locations for redevelopment, we’re completing a new school,” Herbert lists. “We also have a number of smaller projects with historical properties that we’re working on.” In addition to all of that, Ashland’s Economic Development Director, Beth Reynolds, has been busy attracting a plethora of new businesses to the area through Ashland’s unique business incentive program. “Ashland has a very diverse makeup of businesses in town, but one of the things that we really focused on a few years back was how to attract more businesses to Ashland,” she recalls. “Available commercial space is limited in Ashland, so we push for the reuse of existing spaces, and adding a business incentive program has proven to be very successful. The program has brought new businesses to town that fit with the town needs, they’ve become community partners and residents have been welcoming.”