(rshsdepot) Brattleboro, VT

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Rutland Herald.
 
Link to additional info and photo:  _http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V02-49.htm_ 
(http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V02-49.htm) 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
 
 
 
Brattleboro board advances train station


By DANIEL BARLOW 
 
BRATTLEBORO — The town is moving ahead with a plan to renovate and expand  
its historic downtown train station, despite a lawsuit brought by two brothers  
who own property needed for the revitalization. 
 
The Brattleboro Select Board on Tuesday authorized allocating $115,000 in  
town funds to purchase a half-acre of land along Depot Street vital to the  
approximately $3 million revival of Union Station. 
 
Brattleboro officials and a lawyer, who is representing the property  owners, 
said Tuesday that the project can still go forward as the legal process  
continues. The town is paying the property owners $625,000 for the land, with a  
bulk of the funds coming from the federal government. 
 
Town Manager Jerry Remillard said the $115,000 will be taken from interest  
collected on community development block grants 
 
Revitalization of Union Station is the centerpiece of Brattleboro`s  
multimodal transportation initiative, which also includes the Brattleboro  
Transportation Center and the Whetstone Pathway, both of which were completed in  the 
past two years. 
 
In its heyday, the station connected Brattleboro to Springfield, Boston and  
Montreal and was the hub of activity after it opened in 1849. As many as 18  
trains stopped there a day and the station was mentioned in the 1939 Academy  
Award-nominated Bettie Davis film, ``Dark Victory.`` 
 
The station closed down in 1966 after the construction of Interstate 91 and  
its main building was renovated into the town`s museum. Now only a handful of  
Amtrak trains stop at the station regularly. 
 
Land along the Connecticut River owned by Douglas and Robert Wood of  
Brattleboro, and the location of their two businesses, is essential to the  town`s 
plan to construct a bus turnaround at the train station. 
 
The brothers declined an offer of $300,000 for the property several years  
ago and the town appeared poised to seize the land under eminent domain laws. 
 
The project stalled with a lawsuit brought by the brothers alleged that  
statements made by town officials and a sign advertising the project hurt their  
businesses — Woody`s Auto and Truck Repair and Bob`s Service Center — by  
creating the impression they were closed. 
 
Project planners at an October 2004 meeting told town officials that the  
Woods` property was essential to the project. 
 
Brattleboro attorney James Maxwell — who is representing the Woods brothers  —
 declined comment on the land purchase deal Tuesday. He said he couldn`t 
reveal  details of the agreement until it was finalized. 
 
The lawsuit is in the discovery stage and it was not clear when a judge  
would rule on it. Maxwell did confirm that the project could go forward despite  
the lawsuit. 
 
``The sale of the property and the lawsuit are separate events,`` he said. 

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

------------------------------

End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1222
********************************

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org