The Wilton Select Board remains split on the future of the Wilton Falls building, which has been offered as a gift to the town.
At the Aug. 25 Select Board meeting, Town Administrator Nick Germain asked whether the town was willing to accept the building after the review of an initial environmental report on the property.
The report, completed by the Nashua Regional Planning Commission through a grant, identified known and potential contaminations on the property, Germain said. This was a step the board had asked to be completed before continuing discussion on whether the town would accept the building.
“It’s pretty typical of what I expected,” Germain said. “It’s an industrial site.” Germain said among the hazards and potential hazards were metal contamination related to its past uses and fuel tanks potentially buried on the property.
A portion of the property is occupied the Main Street Association, and it has been used by the community food pantry recently. It also has about 40 parking spots which the town has interest in preserving for downtown parking use.
Germain said if the town is interested in accepting the building as a gift, it would require a public hearing process with input from the Planning Board and Conservation Commission.
Selectman Tom Schultz said he made clear when he ran for his position that he was against accepting the building, and that was a stance he still held after reading the environmental report.
“I was very concerned, and I’ve been saying this for a long time, and when I ran for office last year, it was on the heels of me addressing it as a citizen, about all the list of questions I had about taking the building,” Schultz said. “One of the major issues I’ve always been concerned about is the potentials for hazards.”
Schultz said even if the ultimate fate of the building was to be sold for a profit for the town, he was concerned with the liabilities the report showed, and that the town would be on the hook to mitigate those concerns before selling the building.
“And the study, in my opinion, identified multiple serious contamination issues,” Schultz said. “These are pretty significant, in my opinion.”
Schultz referenced that the former owners of the building, the Wilton Main Street Association, had attempted to sell the building for some time before it was purchased by KimPhys Properties LLC, as essentially a bail-out, and that it had been listed on the market by KimPhys Properties with no interest. He said the additional information about potential hazards would not make the property more appealing.
“You’ll be hard-pressed to unload this thing,” Schultz said. He said he was concerned about the burden of the cost of mitigating the hazards, and the loss of tax revenue while the town owned the building.
“There’s a list of reasons why this is a huge problem. We need to seriously consider all the ramifications of before we sign on the dotted line,” Schultz said.
Chair Kermit Williams said someone needed to take responsibility for the building, and the town was best equipped to protect its own interests.
“The building can sit there empty, and if the building sits there empty, it’s going to deteriorate,” Williams said. He said he was concerned about the potential for the building to be abandoned and become an eyesore or a bigger hazard, particularly given its immediate proximity to the river.
“I don’t want us to be on the hook financially. I’ve been very clear about this. I’m not changing my mind, and I know you’re not changing yours,” Schultz said.
Selectman Gareth Krausser said he shared concerns on both sides of the argument, and pointed out that both Schultz and Williams seemed to agree that the building’s ownership by a limited liability corporation created the potential for the building to end up in limbo.
Schultz acknowledged that the town would be in a better position to apply for and accept grant funds, such as brownfields funding for redeveloping contaminated sites. However, he said he had run on a clear platform that he would not support accepting the building, and said he would continue to honor that pledge.
Germain said while the environmental concerns in the report are “very real” and are not untenable.
“There’s a lot worse scenarios than what this building seems like it is,” Germain said. He said his recommendation remained that the board at least initiate the process of public hearings on the matter, as no decision could be made to accept the building without that process.
Jennifer Beck, speaking as a member of the Conservation Commission, agreed that the potential and identified contamination concerns were typical of historic mills in New Hampshire, which she said still get renovated and redeveloped on a regular basis. She said she was seeking further information about how big of a stumbling block those hazards might be through the Department of Environmental Services and NeighborWorks, which works to develop affordable housing options.
Beck also assured Schultz that having identified potential hazards does not necessarily put the town on the hook for the clean-up, noting that the town could still sell the property as-is, with perhaps a price mitigation to offset clean-up costs.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.