Town eyeing land near prison for industrial park

Municipal officials in Springfield are in discussion with the state of Vermont to take ownership of 32 acres of land next to Southern State Correctional Facility for a new industrial park.

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2016-10-28 / Front Page Town eyeing land near prison for industrial park By TORY JONES BONENFANT toryb@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD — Municipal officials in Springfield are in discussion with the state of Vermont to take ownership of 32 acres of land next to Southern State Correctional Facility for a new industrial park. The land was originally offered by the state of Vermont to the town under conditions of a 1999 agreement when the town of Springfield agreed to host the prison. The 32 acres were “never officially taken over by the town,” Selectboard Chair Kristi Morris said on Monday, Oct. 24 during a selectboard meeting. “The town manager is attempting to do that now.” Town Manager Tom Yennerell said on Monday that he met with the Vermont secretary of the Agency of Administration and with the commissioner of Buildings and General Services on Wednesday, Oct. 19, and that the meeting “went well.” When state officials originally negotiated with Springfield for the prison facility to be constructed in that town, there were “a number of conditions,” Yennerell said. The state provided $3 million in investment for a community recreation facility, for instance, he said. In the original SSCF agreement, approximately 32 acres of “excess land,” in a section to the west of the prison buildings, were to be transferred to the town of Springfield for use as an industrial park. “It’s not a done deal. We are negotiating,” Yennerell said. He also said he is optimistic the transfer will be taking place soon, and that “things are looking far more favorable.” Yennerell said he is still in talks with Michael Obuchowski, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services (DBGS). The eight-page correctional facility agreement with Springfield is signed and dated on March 30, 1999 by both Kathleen Hoyt, secretary of administration for Vermont, and John Follett, Springfield Selectboard chair. It includes financial and structural conditions for the 350-bed medium security facility, which was built on land commonly referred to as “Ho-Jo’s Pits.” Included in the agreement is a section stating that Vermont will “site the prison somewhere within the Ho-Jo’s Pits area so as to reasonably maximize the area of any remaining property available for future industrial development and to offer at no charge any land acquired by the state which the state deems to be surplus to the correctional facility project to the town for an expanded industrial park.” The section also states that Vermont will provide the town of Springfield with copies of any environmental assessments commissioned by the DBGS concerning the industrial park site, prior to transfer of any surplus property to the town. Other conditions in the agreement included a $1 million contribution as an economic development grant for the Jones and Lamson Machine Tool Co. complex plant site development, advocation of an additional $750,000 in community development block grants, and a contribution of 90 percent of the Vermont Route 143 Transportation Project costs, through 80 percent federal and 10 percent state funds, for an estimated $750,000 project and with subsequent projects up to $250,000. For road, bridge, culvert and traffic signal work. If the transfer takes place, the plan would be to bring businesses to the industrial park. “That’s the idea,” he said. Further meetings are planned with state officials to discuss the land transfer negotiations, Yennerell said.