Blue/Green Fitchburg: Downtown Climate Adaptation Plan

ABOUT THE PROJECT 

The City of Fitchburg is pleased to announce a project aimed at enhancing climate resilience within the downtown Urban Renewal Area. Funded by the Massachusetts Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant program and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, BlueGreen Fitchburg represents a significant investment in the City’s ability to respond to flooding and extreme heat. The MVP and BRIC programs provide critical funding to communities preparing for the impacts of climate change such as increased precipitation, flooding, and extreme heat. Fitchburg aims to serve as a model for other municipalities, demonstrating how proactive measures can address environmental vulnerabilities while fostering economic growth and community development.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Community members are the subject matter experts when it comes to the lived experience as a resident or business owner in Fitchburg. We would love to hear from you. The information we are requesting in this survey is intended to inform the creation and evaluation of climate adaptation solutions for Fitchburg now and in the future. The survey is provided in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole. Please take our survey by scanning the QR code or clicking the link: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/66ae54ec541843cd929300c19a6d7b3a

BLUE GREEN FITCHBURG GOALS

Analyze Current & Future Conditions: Use GIS data, site observations, and formerly completed studies to understand the existing conditions and to identify climate risk factors such as extreme heat, social vulnerabilities, transportation connectivity, critical community assets, industrial legacy sites, and opportunities for more equitable open space. Utilize modeling to simulate future flooding to identify high priority areas. 

Engage the Community: Create opportunities for community members to express how they have been impacted by flooding and extreme heat through an online survey, youth outreach, informational pop-ups at community events, and public workshops. Use community input to identify priority areas and to inform recommendations. 

Develop a Climate Adaptation Action Plan: Create a toolkit of adaptation options for the City to implement over time and develop a clear criteria for when each tool is applicable. Identify locations to implement nature-based and hybrid climate adaptation solutions, demonstrating a variety of strategies for mitigating extreme heat, absorbing flood water, enhancing urban biodiversity, providing multi-use recreational space, and supporting economic revitalization efforts.

EXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSISEXISTING CONDITIONS ANALYSIS

CRITICAL COMMUNITY ASSETS                                                                                                                                                     

Fitchburg’s Urban Renewal Area was drawn to include a number of critical community assets with an emphasis on municipal services and open space. Municipally owned properties in the URA include City Hall, the Department of Public Works, and the Fitchburg Senior Center—housed in the Armory—which hosts an array of affordable recreational opportunities for seniors across the community. Across the street, Monument Park represents the heart of the Monument Park National Historic District, which contains several examples of well-preserved 19th-century architecture. Other open space nearby includes Crocker Field—used by local sports teams—and Riverfront Park, which offers pedestrian waterfront access and serves as a venue for outdoor events.

Given the extent of low-lying impervious surfaces within the project area, community assets have faced increasingly severe flooding in recent years. This issue is especially pronounced in areas where the topography directs fast-moving precipitation runoff as it flows towards the river. Many businesses and residential buildings in downtown Fitchburg experience flooding during intense and heavy precipitation events, including the Senior Center, the MART Intermodal Transportation Center on Main Street, residences along Elm Street, Boulder Drive, and businesses and residences at the intersection of Summer Street and Lunenburg Street. This disrupts access to businesses, grocery stores, healthcare facilities, and other valuable community assets. 

HEAT RISK

Extreme heat compounds the hazards of inland flooding by increasing public health risks such as kidney failure, dehydration, and heatstroke—making residents more vulnerable should electricity, clean water resources, or emergency services become crippled by flooding. During a heat wave, the ground surface temperature can be much hotter than ambient air temperature, with impermeable surfaces such as sidewalks, streets, and roofs retaining heat much more than water or vegetation. Trees provide shade and cool the surrounding area via a process known as evaporative cooling. Downtown Fitchburg is highly urbanized, with widespread sidewalks, parking lots, and paved streets. The river itself provides some relief from this landscape and is banked on both sides by trees and other open space. Otherwise, this project area is consistently the hottest region of Fitchburg, much more so than the surrounding leafy neighborhoods.

FLOOD RISK

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has recently released preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for the City of Fitchburg, revising earlier estimates of riverine flood risk in the project area. FIRM data focus primarily on defining areas that are subject to the 1% annual probability of flooding for insurance purposes, ignoring areas that flood due to drainage backup or surface flooding caused by intense rainfall. Still, they act as valuable records of historic and present-day flood risk.

Downtown Fitchburg’s flood zones reflect the influence of the North Nashua River Flood Damage Reduction (FDR) System, originally constructed in 1937 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. These interventions have added concrete walls, stone slope protection, and other engineered features along 4.4 miles of the North Nashua to protect low-lying industrial, commercial, and residential properties from flooding. Areas of low flood risk are either not marked on the maps or colored purple—indicating they are subject to the 0.2% annual risk of flooding. These zones are interspersed with pockets where the river can more readily exceed its banks, marked in blue as the areas that have a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. This information provides a valuable starting point for considering where invest future improvements for flood prevention.

A second Fitchburg community meeting was held on JUNE 5, 2025, from 5:30 – 7:30 PM at City Hall  residents learned more about the project, and shared input.  below is the presentation from that meeting.  

Downtown Fitchburg Climate Adaptation Plan