BELLOWS FALLS-For more than two decades, residents and community leaders have been working on a vision to transform an abandoned, polluted 8-acre former industrial site along the Connecticut River into a universally accessible community park.
That vision has resulted in Riverfront Park, a beautiful green space in the center of the Village, on the west bank of the Connecticut River, with accessible hiking trails, meadows, benches, picnic tables, a pond, a labyrinth, and the only direct access to the river in the village.
But the park is far from complete, with officials planning decades into the future to envision the park's best use for the community.
At the same time, Rockingham Development Director Gary Fox discussed growing concerns about how budget cuts by the Trump administration will affect these plans.
Scoping study starts the process
In January, the town was presented with the Bellows Falls River Front Trail Scoping Study. It was created by Colin Bratton of the Windham Regional Commission, Bellows Falls Development Director Gary Fox, with Sean Neely, an associate at Stantec, an international company that specializes in sustainable engineering and environmental consulting, doing the design work.
The project proposes to extend the Bellows Falls Riverfront Trail from the north gate of the Bellows Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant to Paper Mill Road at the Westminster town line, along the way improving access for "all transportation users" to Riverfront Park and the wastewater treatment plant, according to the presentation.
Work on the park will focus on several areas. In addition to enhancing the park itself, the project will also "provide safe and efficient access to the southern portions of the Park for both bicyclists and pedestrians." This includes continuing to develop some of the trails for wheelchair and stroller access.
"For safety's sake," Fox said, "we need to create [a] new access from the south end of the park."
The town must improve motor vehicle and emergency service access to the wastewater treatment facility just to the south of the park, Fox said. Work on this access must take place without disrupting the primary use of the park's trails for bicyclists and pedestrians, he said.
The fact that the park at this point only has one very narrow entry off The Square also needs to be addressed, the study said.
The Mill Street entrance - "steep, narrow, crosses a train track, and has no sidewalk," Fox said - is the only entrance and exit for large trucks headed to the water treatment plant and to the hydroelectric plant.
The plans for a new entrance at the south end of the park, he said, would divert vehicular traffic to the treatment plant, leaving the north entrance for non-motorized access.
At the same time, Fox said, the park's pedestrian trails are unpaved but wide enough to be used by emergency and fire vehicles if needed.
The study offers various options for additional entrance and exit roads.
As outlined in the minutes of the joint meeting of the Rockingham Selectboard and the Bellows Falls and Saxtons River village trustees, one alternative "would be a shared use path and trail with an eight-foot-wide path."
A second option would be "a paved shared use path which would be 12 feet wide and would allow Emergency vehicles to use the path," while the third alternative would be "another two lane 24 -foot path which would be shared with septage trucks going to the Wastewater Treatment Plant."
"The next step is to formally pick one of the alternatives," Fox said. Then, the town would need to "price it out and work on a plan going ahead."
He said he foresees it taking five years to get the park's entrance and exit issues settled.
Federal policy casts shadow over project
Creating serious questions for proceeding with park improvements is the Trump administration's cutting of environmental programs.
One casualty of the new regime's deep and swift cuts in federal agencies and expenses is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that provides funding to clean up industrially polluted areas.
"All of the projects here in the Village have a ton of pollution," Fox said.
In his view, cutting the funding for testing or cleaning up industrial pollution doesn't seem like a good idea, he said, noting that "the risks from polluted soils don't get less [risky] by not cleaning up the pollution."
Fox said that some promised federal grant funding for pollution cleanup in the village was due May 1. The Village was notified in late April that the Trump administration had cut funding for those programs, despite the funding having already been approved by Congress.
How all this will end is part of the confusion surrounding dozens of threatened federal programs, Fox said.
"It seems it's illegal for the executive branch to cut programs that were approved by Congress," he said, and these issues are being taken to court in multiple lawsuits.
In the federal court for the District of Columbia on April 15, two judges ruled in favor of plaintiffs in two respective lawsuits, each ordering the administration to release previously awarded funds.
A history of local preservation
The Bellows Falls Historical Society has always had an interest in this part of the Village. In fact, the organization was formed in 1965 to prevent the well-preserved Adams Grist Mill, located in the park, from being torn down.
The majority of the park property, since the 1920s, has been part of the adjacent hydroelectric power facilities on the Connecticut River, which includes the hydro dam and power plant in Bellows Falls. When then-owner TransCanada bought the generating system in 2005, the company viewed the polluted Riverfront site as a financial liability.
So at that time TransCanada donated the Riverfront property, including Adams Grist Mill and the adjacent Wyman Flint Building, to the Historical Society - on the condition that the power company be released from any liability to clean up the contaminated region.
The town of Rockingham had also ended up owning the nearby abandoned TLR Corporation building, the original headquarters of International Paper.
The few remaining structures within the industrial complex are in local hands, either the Bellows Falls Historical Society or the Sustainable Valley Group (SVG), a nonprofit local development organization focused on creating a sustainable local economy.
The TLR building and other parts of the site that were owned by the town were also donated to the Historical Society or bought from private owners via donations.
From these disparate sources, the land and all these structures now comprise the Riverfront Park.
By the end of the 1800s, what is today's park area was completely covered by dozens of factories, lumber mills, lumber sheds, carpenter shops, acid rooms, paper machine rooms, shipping buildings, buildings for coal storage, pulp storage, paper storage, sulfite mills, blow pits, and digesters, as well as the Frank Adams Grist Mill. Most of the site was owned by the Fall Mountain Paper and Robertson Paper companies.
The environmental pollution from a century of industrial use has been a major focus of the park's development over the past 20 years.
One state environmental database, citing work the EPA completed in 2023 on the former TLR property, listed chlorinated solvents, other metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as the industrial toxins removed from the site.
The EPA and the state of Vermont helped fund the beginnings of the trail system at the park. Contaminated soils were covered with a protective fabric with 18 inches of clean gravel on top of it.
The resulting trails there are smooth and wide enough for carriages or wheelchairs. Areas of the park that still have contaminated soils have been fenced off with warning signs, Fox said, and poison ivy and brambles growing there also discourage use of those areas.
A community trail system
Consultants have encouraged the town to take advantage of its diverse terrain for recreational use, Fox said. The village has created three distinct hiking and outdoor recreation areas.
In the village, several trails have been created on the hillside above the village recreation area and town pool.
"These are more challenging trails for hikers and experienced mountain bikers," Fox said.
A moderate hiking trail has also been created around Minards Pond. Because this is the town's drinking water source, "we really don't have more plans for developing those trails," Fox said.
The easiest trails to access and use are in Riverfront Park.
The proposed plans for Riverfront Park "aim to enhance the natural beauty of the area, provide recreational opportunities for residents and visitors, and foster a sense of community," Fox said.
This includes extending the accessible trails past the water treatment plant at the south end of the park, to the Saxtons River, he noted.
Fox added that other community groups are working to eventually connect those trails with a trail system that extends all the way to Saxtons River.
Green space for all
The idea for Riverfront Park emerged from a series of community meetings and discussions that highlighted the need for a dedicated green space in Bellows Falls.
The park is envisioned as a place where people can relax, engage in outdoor activities, and enjoy the scenic views of the river. It is designed to be accessible to everyone, including families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities.
The plans prioritize environmental sustainability and include measures to protect and preserve the natural ecosystem of the river and surrounding areas. Designers are looking to minimize the park's ecological footprint by using eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient lighting, and water conservation practices.
Residents have been encouraged to participate in the planning process by providing their views and reactions. Regular meetings and workshops will ensure that the park meets the needs and desires of the community, the study said.
"We've come a long way since the town started this work with the park in 2002," Fox said, noting that it has become a popular place for townspeople to visit.
Volunteers are seen constantly in the park in warm weather, planting, tending gardens, mowing, and working to eradicate the invasive Japanese knotweed.
"The grist mill is open and functioning and getting needed improvements as well," Fox added. "We've come a long way."
This News item by Robert F. Smith was written for The Commons.