By Sharron Luttrell
The town has won three state grants totaling $344,715, with the awards aimed at enhancing recreation, building climate resilience and improving energy efficiency.
Mendon Conservation Agent and Energy Coordinator Isabella Genova applied for the three grants.
New trails off North Avenue and Rte. 16
The Mass Trails program awarded the town $100,000 to create four miles of new trails at two North Avenue locations — Maple Farm Preserve and Muddy Brook North.
The trails will wind through different ecosystems, including open fields, forests, wetlands, ponds and stream crossings. Plans also call for building a boardwalk, bridge and a scenic viewing area on the properties. The goal is to have portions of the trails ADA accessible to people with mobility issues.
Maple Farm Preserve spans 116 acres at 101 and 109 North Aven where Cheri and Jim Vandersluis have long run a farm animal sanctuary. In 2024, the couple permanently sold their development rights by putting a conservation restriction (CR) on their land. The CR is held jointly by the Metacomet Land Trust and the Mendon Conservation Commission, which will monitor the property annually to ensure it is not developed and help to maintain the open space.
Funds to protect the property came from the Community Preservation Act, Mass Audubon, the Metacomet Land Trust and a Mass Partnership grant. The Vandersluises helped the arrangement considerably by donating over half of the appraised value of the conservation restriction.
The 24-acre Muddy Brook North property at 20 Milford St. is part of a larger parcel the town bought in 2004. The open space portion was purchased with CPA funds and protected with a conservation restriction in 2014. The Metacomet Land Trust holds the CR.
The new trail system will make both properties more accessible to hikers and will be easy to access from Miscoe Hill Middle School and Clough Elementary.
The project will be complete at the end of 2027. The town will be seeking volunteers to help with the work.
Protecting Mendon against climate change
Another $100,000 grant will allow the town to expand upon earlier work building resilience to climate impacts like increased flooding and heat, drought and extreme weather. The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program will allow the town to update climate risk data and revisit priorities it set in 2018 during the first phase of the program.
A previous MVP grant brought in additional funding for the Town Hall campus upgrade, which transformed the parking area to a green, climate-resilient space.
It also led to the town incorporating low-impact development best practices into the zoning bylaws and subdivision regulations, making development in Mendon more sustainable. These approaches include cutting fewer trees and limiting impervious surfaces to prevent water runoff.
The latest MVP project calls for increasing community involvement in the planning process. The town will also identify and jumpstart another resilience project. Genova will be seeking volunteers to join the effort.
Saving energy – and money
Clough Elementary School will upgrade its energy management system with help from a $144,715 grant from the state Department of Energy Resources Green Communities Division.
Plans call for integrating the school’s heating and cooling units to reduce energy consumption and improve climate control in common areas and classrooms. The upgrades are expected to save the schools over $8,300 annually.
The funding also includes $15,000 toward a new electric vehicle for the police department. This is the second EV the department has purchased using Green Communities grant incentives.
Since joining the Green Communities program in 2011, Mendon has reduced energy usage of municipal buildings by over 20% and has received approximately $744,000 in grant funding.
For more information on these projects, contact Isabella Genova at igenova@mendonma.gov or 508-634-6898.
