By STEPHEN SEITZ
Special to the Eagle Times
BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. — Real estate dominated the regular meeting of the Rockingham board of selectmen on Monday night.
There are two properties vexing municipal officials: what to do about redeveloping Church Place, and what can be done about the long abandoned Hetty Green Motel on Route 5 just north of Bellows Falls.
Town Planner Chuck Wise said the Church Street property, which was destroyed by fire several years ago, was now ready for redevelopment.
“Church Place is pristine,” he said.
There has been plenty of interest: the Rockingham school system has its eyes on the property for teacher parking, and the Windham/Windsor Housing Trust wants affordable housing for the site, but planning commission chair Renee Vondle had an alternate proposal.
“That would be a perfect place for a day-care center,’ she said. “I’d hate to see it become a parking lot. I’ve been talking with the governor, and he said he’d help with economic development.”
“Who would own it?” askeds selectman Gaetano Putignano.
“The state,” Vondle replied. “We don’t need more housing, but we do need a day-care center.”
Elizabeth Bridgewater, who has been the executive director of the housing trust since January,, outlined her proposal.
“We’re interested in 8 Church Place, and 7 Church Place across the street,’ she said. “When 10 Church Place burned down, the three parcels became a project that’s financially feasible. We’d like to revitalize that end of the street.”
Putignano said he lived near one of the trust’s properties, and praised it as clean and quiet.
“The difference between a mission-driven landlord and a property manager is that we respond,” Bridgewater said.
“What about parking?”asked Selectman Stefan Golec.
“The two properties we want will meet the zoning requirements for parking,” Bridgewater replied.
The Hetty Green Motel, long closed and uninhabitable is caught in legal limbo, according to town attorney Ray Massucco.
“The owner died earlier this year,” Massucco said. “She left two next of kin, neither of whom wished to open an intestate estate. If you file, then you become the administrator and you are responsible for everything.”
Massucco told the board that no one is required to inherit anything.
“There is no owner. If nobody does anything, it’ll be there legally and physically until the end of time,” he said.
Selectman Stefan Golec said more research needs to be done.
“We need to do our homework,” he said. “Measurements, determine the size of the lot, those sorts of things.”
Camilla Roberts, who heads the lister’s office, had the answer for that: 1.75 acres.
The board decided to wait before making any final decisions.
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