Haverhill city councilors will be asked Tuesday night to approve the city’s plans to purchase a portion of a Bradford railroad bed to expand the rail trail project between the Basiliere Bridge and Crescent Yacht Club.
On the agenda, Mayor James J. Fiorentini seeks the council’s authorization to enter a purchase and sale agreement and to “execute any and all other documents as required” with Boston and Maine Corporation, also known as Pan Am Railways, North Billerica. A deposit of $12,500 would be made toward the $125,000 purchase for a parcel nearly an acre, or 42,500 square feet. The purchase would close Dec. 30 or “within five days after Seller has obtained the Release” from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
“This purchase will allow us to extend the Bradford Rail Trail eastward through the former Taylor-Goodwin site and gives the city control of the railroad trestle in front of the Crescent Yacht Club. This acquisition will represent a major step toward the eventual connection of the rail trail to Groveland and Georgetown and the borders to Boston trail network,” Fiorentini said in a letter.
Under the agreement, the city purchases the parcel ‘“as is,’ ‘with all faults’ and subject to the possible existence of hazardous materials, petroleum products and/or other pollutants regulated by law.” The city “irrevocably waives, gives up and renounces” any future claims and actions regarding site remediation. However, an additional provision allows the city, at its own expense, to obtain by Dec. 14 a completed consultant’s report. The city would have the option to terminate the agreement if a finding of contamination with removal costs exceeding the $12,500 deposit is certified to Boston and Maine by that same date.
Also, a draft “release deed” excludes from the transaction “any and all railroad tracks, railroad track materials and/or related equipment.” Boston and Maine would be allowed access to remove the items within 90 days from the deed delivery, after which they would be “deemed abandoned by the grantor and shall then become the property of the grantee.” It also omits “advertising signs and/or billboards on the premises” not owned by Boston and Maine.
The Haverhill City Council meets in regular session at 7 p.m., Tuesday, in Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers at Haverhill City Hall.
This is a lot of money for an acre of land. Who is kidding who, a continuation of the rail trail??? I walked it once and wouldn’t do it again.
The land is vacant and unkempt, instead of paying the railroad force them to keep the property up.
Who is the govt to take land by eminent domain for a rail trail?? Eminent domain worked well for Bailey and Ginty Blvd
take land eminent domain