BELLOWS FALLS -- The Rockingham Select Board will send a letter to Gov. Phil Scott asking him to get two of his state agencies to stop working at cross purposes before they kill the redevelopment of the Bellows Falls train station.
The board unanimously agreed Tuesday night to send the strongly worded letter, saying that the proposed state lease for the land underneath the dilapidated train station was unworkable and unrealistic and would ultimately kill the project.
"Dear Governor Phil Scott," the letter begins. "We need your help."
"We're caught between an inter-agency dispute," said Chairman Rick Cowan after the meeting. Cowan said the proposed lease from the Agency of Transportation was in essence "a straight jacket" that would prohibit any real redevelopment of the train station. The Windham Regional Commission, which has been working closely with the town on the project, also joined in sending the letter to Scott, at the urging of Executive Director Christopher Campany, Cowan said.
The town voted three years ago to buy the station and restore it enough so that a private business could come and establish a restaurant, a brewery or some other commercial business, but the project has been bogged down because of negotiations between the town, the state and to a lesser extent, the railroad.
But, the board said, the past three years have seen obstacles from both the Agency of Transportation and the Agency of Natural Resources. The town has approved some funding for the project, and has also received several state and federal grants for the project and is seeking additional support.
At the heart of the conflict is the pollution at the eight-acre rail yard in Bellows Falls, which is owned by the Agency of Transportation. Last fall, the Agency of Natural Resources sued the Agency of Transportation over the lack of a clean up plan for the rail yard, which is still in active use. There has been a rail yard in Bellows Falls for 170 years, the letter to Scott pointed out.
The station itself is owned by Vermont Rail Systems, and it is used daily by the two Amtrak Vermonter train passengers. The town has been negotiating to not only buy the station but secure a lease for the land under it, since the state won't sell the land.
Cowan said the conditions contained in the proposed state lease were described as "handcuffs" by the town's attorney Stephen Ankuda.
For instance, one of the conditions demanded by the state would prohibit the sale or consumption of alcohol on the premises, which would all but prohibit the redevelopment of the train station into a commercial enterprise such as a restaurant.
The town wants to preserve the 100-year-old station, which had replaced an earlier station that burned, and use it as a catalyst for other redevelopment on The Island, a section of downtown Bellows Falls.
In fact, in the letter that will be sent to Scott on Thursday, the town reminds the governor of his last visit to Rockingham to celebrate the clean up and redevelopment of the former Robertson Paper Mill site.
Rockingham Development Director Gary Fox said the Bellows Falls train station project is unique because it is part of a larger, active rail yard, unlike the Brattleboro train station.
The town has been working on various environmental clean-up plans to meet the requirements of various federal grants, the letter pointed out, as well as answer historic preservation requirements.
Most recently, environmental consultants working for the town discovered the presence of toxic vapors in the basement of the train station, filtering in to the station from the surrounding rail yard. One of the conditions of the proposed lease would make the town liable for environmental clean-up costs if it disturbs the soil next to the station.
Because of the delays, the Rockingham board agreed to put the issue on the Town Meeting warning, to gauge public support for the project. But the exact wording of the article was not decided Tuesday evening and will be discussed at the next board meeting in two weeks.