(rshsdepot) Pawtucket-Central Falls, RI

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

From yesterday's Providence Journal.

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

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Developer Seeks Talks With City on Train Station

Feb. 23--PAWTUCKET -- A lawyer for the developer at loggerheads with the 
city over how to redevelop the Pawtucket-Central Falls train station is 
holding out an olive branch, saying that a lot could be accomplished by a 
cooperative approach that leaves the property in private hands.
The lawyer, John J. Garrahy, is seeking a meeting with city officials to 
determine whether the two sides can map out common ground.

"We believe that many of the goals and aims of the City of Pawtucket and the 
Pawtucket Foundation can be accomplished through private development of this 
site by our client," Garrahy said in a Feb. 8 letter to Michael D. Cassidy, 
director of the city's Department of Planning and Redevelopment.

"Warwick RICS is most interested, like the Pawtucket Foundation, in 
establishing a "T" (commuter rail) stop at this location and has had various 
meetings with RIDOT (Rhode Island Department of Transportation) in this 
regard."

Warwick RICS is the limited liability company, established by Memphis, 
Tenn., developer Oscar W. Seelbinder, negotiating the purchase of the train 
station from A&B Corp., a company controlled by Jean Vitali, the mother of 
newly elected Pawtucket City Councilor Albert J. Vitali Jr.

The Pawtucket Foundation is the influential private group that has been 
lobbying the City Council to allow the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency to 
acquire the train station by eminent domain.

No trains have stopped at the station since the 1970s. The Pawtucket 
Foundation and the private developer both agree on the importance of 
restoring commuter rail service to the 3.4-acre property. They part company 
over whether to preserve the 90-year-old station building and whether to 
restore rail service before doing anything else.

Seelbinder would tear down the train station, build a deck over the tracks 
and construct a shopping plaza on the property, then explore the possibility 
of restoring rail service.

The Pawtucket Foundation would preserve the station, restore rail service 
and solicit bids for redeveloping the property after the city acquires it by 
eminent domain.

Mayor James E. Doyle, who supports the Pawtucket Foundation proposal, said 
in an interview yesterday that any meeting with Seelbinder would have to 
wait until the City Council conducts a public hearing on the eminent domain 
proposal. The public hearing is scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Monday in 
Pawtucket City Hall.

"Am I opposed to sitting down? No," Doyle said. "(But) I don't think meeting 
any time before the public hearing would be productive."

The City Council is split between taking the train station by eminent domain 
and leaving it in the hands of the private developer.

Vitali, who was elected to the council from District 3, has recused himself 
from voting on the issue and excused himself whenever it has been discussed.

A majority of Council members are skeptical of the Pawtucket Foundation 
proposal, because it would entail shifting the risk of redeveloping the 
train station onto the city and raise the possibility that Pawtucket 
taxpayers would wind up owning the station without any prospect of restoring 
commuter rail service or attracting private development bids.

Doyle said yesterday he is willing to meet with Seelbinder whether or not 
the Council votes to grant eminent domain authority.

But he said he wants the public hearing to take place before any such 
meeting because it will provide the Pawtucket Foundation with a forum to 
outline its proposal, give people in the neighborhood the opportunity to say 
they support it, and address the objections that City Council members have 
raised.

"Most every question that they've had, we know, will be answered," Doyle 
said. "Whether they'll be answered successfully or not, as far as the 
council's concerned, that's not for me to say."

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

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1093
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org