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Springfield prepares to weigh in on downtown revitalization
Rutland Herald | January 14, 2017
By Susan Smallheer
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Select Board is taking its fight against blight to town meeting voters.
Residents will be asked whether they want to create a fund for the purpose of covering the costs of current and future plans for the revitalization and redevelopment of the town, with a special focus on the downtown area.
A second article will ask voters whether they want to appropriate $100,000 for what will be called “The Springfield Revitalization Fund.”
Select Board member George MacNaughton said the money would not go toward another downtown revitalization plan, and would instead support what he called “action, not more shelf candy.”
Town Manager Tom Yennerell said the new fund would have “an emphasis on the downtown,” with the money being used as seed money for projects outlined in plans being finalized by engineering and construction company Greenman-Pedersen Inc.’s White River Junction office. The town received a state grant for the studies.
“This isn’t going to fund more plans. The town has lost its appetite for plans,” said MacNaughton. MacNaughton said the revitalization fund could be a source of funding for construction plans, “So we can actually move.”
“I can support this strongly and I think the town will support it,” he said.
The town recently entered into purchase agreements for two buildings in downtown Springfield: the former Springfield Bakery building and the former Visiting Nurse building. The town wants to tear down the Visiting Nurse building to expand views of the Black River and the waterfalls in the downtown. The fate of the bakery building, which is nearby, is less clear, but both buildings have fallen into disrepair.
Springfield Select Board Chairman Kristi Morris said the fund and the money source had to be created separately, and that is why there would be two articles on the Town Meeting warning. He said the town was taking the same strategy as it did in 2016, when Town Meeting Day voters approved a fund to pay for demolishing blighted buildings.
Morris said that the proposed seed money of $100,000 “is not a lot but we have to start somewhere.”
“We’re being proactive, not reactive,” he said.
Think of this as a possibility. Invite about 200 Syrian refugees to come to SF. They can fix up the old J&L and Bryant buildings for housing. Then, I am sure, they would be happy to help revitalize any part of town. They are hard workers and good people. And with good ideas. Win win for all.
ReplyDeleteHave you actually SEEN the J&L? There's no rehabbing that pile of bricks! Besides, there's already enough unemployed unskilled labor around here without bringing more in. (You will, of course, have to PAY them.) Here's a better idea; turn the buildings that AREN'T crumbling into the ground into moderately priced condos, and sell them to people with money, education, and talent! THAT'S a win-win!
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