Board holds off on railroad agreement

PARIS — The Paris Board of Selectmen voted to delay signing a new private commercial crossing agreement with the Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad Company (SLA) during its meeting on May 14.

Selectman Ted Kurtz and Town Manager Phil Tarr took issue with the agreement.

The new agreement lists six licensees including Paris and E.C.I. Materials as well as several other gravel pit owners, who have the right to use the railroad crossing to haul gravel.

The previous agreement with SLA included only the town and E.C.I. Materials, and the addition of four new licensees to the agreement, particularly concerns Tarr.

"There is no reasonable foundation why we should be required to join in with five other entities to obtain a private crossing agreement," said Tarr on Tuesday.

"I think in this case we're going to be far better off if we enter into an agreement privately ... just the town and the railroad," said Tarr.

During Monday's meeting, Kurtz took issue with a clause in the agreement that would make the private crossing designation more difficult to alter if SLA and the Maine Department of Conservation later decided to make it a recreational crossing.

According to Kurtz, the clause would allow one or more of the licensees in the agreement to effectively veto such a decision.

Rather than accept the agreement, Kurtz said the town should send a letter to the conservation department requesting that they engage the landowners, recreational users and SLA in order to come up with a compromise on a recreational crossing.

Following a lengthy and heated discussion on the issue, the board voted 3-1, with Selectwoman Jean Smart voting against, to instruct the town manager to contact the Department of Conservation and find out what it needs to receive from the town in order to come in and help settle the situation.