BELLOWS FALLS-A complex ownership situation involving two state agencies could derail Rockingham's plans to purchase and restore the Bellows Falls train depot, but Development Director Gary Fox said these issues can be resolved in time for the town to meet the April 1 deadline for buying the building.
To that end, the town has sent a letter to Gov. Phil Scott seeking cooperation from two state agencies to move the project forward, and the state has affirmed its willingness to find solutions.
The 8-acre rail yard at the north end of the Island, part of the village's designated downtown historic area, is owned by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTtrans), while Green Mountain Railroad (GMRR) owns the 1923 depot building in the middle of that land.
Also at issue is who is responsible for cleanup of industrial pollution - and how it will be paid for.
The town wants the restoration of the historic depot to be the focus for development on the Island in the decades to come. GMRR is willing to sell the building to the town for $285,000. Town officials report that while VTrans won't sell the land the building sits on, the state agency will be willing to lease the land to the town.
Some town officials, like Selectboard Chair Rick Cowan, have expressed concern that if the town buys the building and leases the land before resolving environmental mediation issues, the town might get stuck with the environmental cleanup bills, as the proposed VTrans lease assigns responsibility for environmental cleanup to the tenant.
The renovated depot building might include a restaurant - a scenario envisioned in the design work for the $4.3 million project - but Cowan said the lease would prohibit the sale of alcohol on VTrans property, which could drastically impact any future restaurant plans.
Lawyers are involved in discussions to put these issues to rest prior to the purchase.
"There is a lot of ambiguity in the lease language," Fox said. "But changing one or two sentences in the lease could clear up all of that. There are some easy fixes with the lease."
That is the purpose of current talks with various state departments, and a letter from the town asking the governor to intervene.
"Why not just get these problems ironed out?" Fox asked. "Who wants to go to court over this down the road? Let's get this all squared away now."
Town urges state to help resolve issues
The Rockingham Selectboard sent the letter to Vermont Gov. Phil Scott earlier this month asking him to intervene with the agencies and help resolve the issues before April 1.
"We need your help!" the Jan. 7 letter begins.
The letter asks Scott to work with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and VTrans "to achieve a positive outcome for the Island District."
As a major transportation and industrial hub for two centuries, the soils of the Island suffer from extensive pollution, which either has to be removed or contained.
Rockingham is nearing the end of Stage I of a three-part development plan for the historic train station. Stage II is scheduled to start around April 1.
Stage I predevelopment work involved a survey of the site for structural and environmental issues. The cost of that work was $127,542 from taxes and over $64,000 in grants. An action plan has been developed that will be enacted in Stage II.
At that point, Fox said, "we'll have a train station that we can work with. It will have been restored to preservation standards." Importantly for the project, he said, the town already has "100% committed funding for Stage II."
That funding includes $269,000 raised from taxes, and, Fox said, "You've got just under $1 million in non-taxpayer money going into it," referring to money already raised from grants.
Environmental issues like lead paint, soil gases such as trichloroethylene (TCE), and contaminated soil will all be addressed by the end of Stage II.
Last June, consulting engineers Sanborn, Head & Associates discovered tetrachloroethylene vapors in the air within the soil beneath the foundation of the depot building and above the water table.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the chemical was widely used in dry-cleaning fabrics and metal degreasing.
"Effects resulting from acute (short-term) high-level inhalation exposure of humans to tetrachloroethylene include irritation of the upper respiratory tract and eyes, kidney dysfunction, and neurological effects such as reversible mood and behavioral changes, impairment of coordination, dizziness, headache, sleepiness, and unconsciousness," the EPA writes in a fact sheet.
The agency describes primary long-term effects of the chemical as neurological, "including impaired cognitive and motor neurobehavioral performance. Tetrachloroethylene exposure may also cause adverse effects in the kidney, liver, immune system and hematologic system, and on development and reproduction."
Fox said that at the end of Stage II of the project, "we'll have an Amtrak station that is safe, health-wise, with the environmental issues mitigated through either removal or sealing."
"The building will have been restored, and it will have all new windows and doors," he said.
But Cowan said there are still unclear details that have him concerned, and that Fox is trying to resolve. Resolution of those issues, Cowan said, would be necessary to get his approval of the project.
The Selectboard members told Scott that the town must get "a commitment from Vermont DEC and VTrans to address the contaminated railyard in a feasible manner, and minimal VTrans lease modifications, purchase and renovation of the station is not possible due to liability of leasing the land, putting the town at risk of 170 years of rail operations."
The letter states the DEC and VTrans "must engage in long-term planning" that would allow "the Town to clean up the lease area only." The letter also requests that rail yard cleanup going ahead be planned in such a way as not to interfere with freight and passenger operations through the yard.
Project planners projections indicate that rail use of the yard will double over the next decade.
Industrial pollution
The rail yard, a local fixture for well over 170 years, takes up the north end of the Island, the 20-acre rail/industrial section of Bellows Falls, formed by the Connecticut River on the north, east, and south sides, and the canal powering the town's hydroelectric station on the west side.
The railroad has also played a critical role in the history of the region. Rail lines have provided transportation for paper, textiles, and other goods produced in the area, as well as milk and other agricultural products shipped to Keene and Concord, New Hampshire, to Boston, and beyond. Rail service has transitioned over the years to primarily long-haul freight and one Amtrak passenger train, the Vermonter.
The canal was built in 1801 and helped Bellows Falls become a major transportation hub. In the later 1800s, the canal would be converted from transportation to providing water power for mills. In the 1920s, the canal was rebuilt to power the hydroelectric plant in Bellows Falls.
The Island was home to several factories over the past 200 years, which created extensive ground pollution there.
The advent of rail in the 1840s increased the village's importance as a transportation center. The rail yard in Bellows Falls was a major Northeast rail hub.
Because the Island is immediately adjacent to Bellows Falls' downtown, in recent years it has also been designated as part of the downtown historic district. Fox said that redevelopment of the Island for a variety of commercial and housing purposes is a vital part of the village's future plans.
The town has developed an Area Wide Plan (AWP) with input from the Windham Regional Commission (WRC). The AWP proposes several town and private industry projects over the next several years.
These include adding over 100 housing units on the Island in upper stories there, and 45,000 square feet of street-level commercial development.
Two projects are in the works that could be completed in the next five years, Fox said. These include what is being called the 0 Bridge Street Project.
The town is seeking a private investment partner to build a 33-unit, four-story apartment building with a basement garage at the far end of the town-owned parking lot, just across the bridge spanning the canal on Bridge Street.
Fox said the town is "close to having private investment" in this project.
Also in discussion is a consumer cooperative grocery store on the former Robertson Paper Mill site. The $10 million project will house a store plus a large cold storage facility that will give local farmers a place to preserve their crops through the winter months.
The Robertson Paper Mill operated until the mid-1980s as one of the largest producers of waxed paper in the country. It was demolished in 2019, and the site environmentally rehabilitated. The cleanup was funded with federal, state, and local support, including grants from the EPA's Brownfields Assessment and Cleanup Program.
The Great River Co-op, in discussion for the Walpole/Rockingham region and incorporated in New Hampshire in 2010, already has interested investors.
In addition to the work on the train station, other initiatives include the replacement of the Vilas Bridge, allowing vehicle traffic once again between the Island and New Hampshire, and the creation of a bridge to connect the Island to Canal Street and Rockingham Road.
Also, according to the town website, in the works is a new pedestrian bridge replacing the current auto bridge connecting the Island with Canal Street. The pedestrian bridge will be connected to a new sidewalk for a short stroll into the downtown area.
Making the area on the Island a walkable part of the Village's downtown area is a major goal of the AWP.
"It's awfully complicated. Not owning the land under and around the station makes this deal awfully risky for the town, in my view," Cowan said.
"My biggest worries are the town getting stuck with a massive environmental cleanup expense for land we don't even own and not being able to use the structure for the commercial purposes put forth when the purchase was sold to the voters two years ago."
But, Cowan made clear that he is not totally opposed to the train station project.
"If VTrans will modify the lease" and address the town's concerns, "I'll go for it," he said.
More housing equals more crime?
When asked about the assertion of a few in the community that adding low-income housing increases crime, Fox scoffed at the idea as nonsense.
The village's history supports him. Over the past several decades, five major housing projects, including numerous apartments for low-income tenants, have been completed in the half-mile stretch of downtown Bellows Falls from the former Armory building on Westminster Street to the recently opened Bellows Falls Garage building on Rockingham Street.
Town officials said all of these projects combined have had zero impact on crime statistics, and that the buildings have a reputation for being well-managed and safe.
On the contrary, Fox said, "The way to fix tax issues in the town is to add buildings back to the Grand List."
The Island, he explained, is the area where the town has lost considerable buildings off the tax list. Adding to the Island's appeal for development is that "it already has water, sewer and three-phase power, and it has the most room for growth."
Cleaning up the pollution on the Island is not only "the right thing to do for the future," Fox said, but that it is "the most valuable place to add property value back" to the town.
"The Island is where we've lost the most expensive buildings over the years, and it is also the place that now has new room for growth," he said.
A 'vital time to prepare for the town's future'
In response to the town's plea, Scott's office pledged to "work directly" with the Agency of Transportation and the Agency of Natural Resources and assured the town that the governor's office is "actively working towards a solution."
Agency of Transportation staff and staff from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) met recently to discuss the letter and reviewed the Stone Environmental report and the CAP.
Fox said he sees this as a vital time to prepare for the town's future.
"Private investment always follows public investment," the development director said. He noted that developing the Island will double the amount of downtown commercial space available.
"All these activities will draw private investors," he said.
Fox noted that right now, the money is available for environmental cleanup and restoration projects like the depot.
"We're getting support right now from the outside," he said, "but internally, there is fear of things going wrong."
Fox noted that the current team of engineers and environmental companies has worked with the town for years, and has a lot of experience developing and executing projects in Rockingham.
"Who wants to invest in a community that won't invest in itself?" Fox asked. "There are a lot of places for the federal and the private money to go. If the town runs away scared, private money will go elsewhere."
This News item by Robert F. Smith was written for The Commons.