Town wants waiver to river buffer zone

Selectman George McNaughton thinks the state can and should put pressure on state environmental regulators to grant a waiver that would clear the way for the extension of the town’s popular Toonerville Trail.
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Published April 24, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Town wants waiver to river buffer zone By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — Selectman George McNaughton thinks the state can and should put pressure on state environmental regulators to grant a waiver that would clear the way for the extension of the town’s popular Toonerville Trail. McNaughton told fellow Select Board members earlier this week that the town has some natural leverage and should use it in the situation concerning the Riverwalk. Many people in Springfield use the paved bicycle and walking trail, which runs from the Jones Building on Clinton Street 3 miles to the Connecticut River, in spots closely hugging the Black River. But according to McNaughton, the state’s insistence on a 25-foot buffer zone from the river would doom the extension of the trail from its current trailhead to the Edgar May Health and Recreation Center. The proposed path would run behind the old Jones & Lamson Machine Tool Co. building, which is in the process of an environmental cleanup. “I agree with you 100 percent,” said Selectman Peter MacGillivray. Select Board Chairman Kristi Morris said the buffer zone may even have been bigger, by at least 50 feet. “Any extension would clearly have to be grandfathered,” said Town Manager Robert Forguites, who said he had worked with the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission in the past on the issue, but it had been “dormant” for a while. “It hasn’t been on the top of the pile,” Forguites said. McNaughton said there wasn’t much space between the river and the J&L building, making such a setback impossible, when the needs of redeveloping the J&L building and having good access were taken into account. Messages left for several Agency of Natural Resources officials were not returned Wednesday. Bob Flint, executive director of Springfield Regional Development Corp., which owns the old J&L complex, said his group was supportive of extending the bike path along the river, in the back of its property. He said the issue has been dormant for about two years, and nothing has happened since a site visit about two years ago, with about 10 ANR officials attending. He said there were two main sections in back of J&L that would need a waiver for a trail extension. And he said he believed the buffer zone was actually 50 feet, not the 25 feet mentioned by McNaughton. He said the trail could easily be extended in back of the Jones Center, since there is an old railroad bed for the trail, much like the current Toonerville Trail. The building of the 3-mile Toonerville Trail was spearheaded by a group of volunteers called Springfield Trails and Greenways. The trail was built with federal funds and was built on the old rail bed of the Springfield Electric Railway Co.