By Stuart Foster, Contributing Writer
(Photo/Tami White)
MARLBOROUGH – Marlborough will review and consider possible zoning changes thanks to a state grant promoting climate resiliency in individual municipalities.
Municipality Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program of Massachusetts has awarded Marlborough with a $56,250 grant as part of this year’s $21 million in total allocated throughout the state.
Executive Aide to the Mayor’s Office Trish Bernard wrote in an email to the Community Advocate that the current zoning and building regulations in Marlborough allow insufficient stormwater management facilities and flood controls. They simultaneously allow for aging water, sewer, gas and electricity infrastructure.
“This grant will enable us to hire a contractor to review our current zoning ordinances and identify some simple changes that could potentially be implemented moving forward promoting climate resiliency,” said Mayor Arthur Vigeant in a statement.
Bernard also wrote that the zoning and building regulations in Marlborough currently allow for extensive pavement. She said that the city could strengthen its ordinances to allow for more green space and tree plantings while also taking action to reduce heat island effects.
The MVP program was created in 2017 through an executive order signed by Governor Charlie Baker. Under the program, the state awards municipalities with grants to conduct vulnerability assessments and create action-based plans for climate resiliency.
This is the first action grant that Marlborough has received as part of the MVP program, Bernard said.
Marlborough is not the only area community to win such funding this year, though.
Southborough will apply $22,875 in funding towards a Planimetric Impervious Surface Mapping Project.
That project will allow the town to identify surfaces that don’t absorb rainwater, in turn causing such water to run off surfaces, gather pollutants and deposit them into bodies of water.
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