'Salisbury Sq.' Proves

Value of RACDC

Monday afternoon, a gathering of about 60 Randolph folks took place in a setting of stark decay. In contrast to the surrounding desolation, however, the gathering was a jolly one, full of faith in the future, an impressive marshaling of resources to improve Randolph.

The event was the formal kick-off of the exciting "Salisbury Square" project proposed by the Randolph Community Development Corp. and a celebration as well as the outright donation of 4.4 acres of downtown land from Ethan Allen, Inc., which operated a furniture factory there for decades. (In fact, furniture was made on the site for 100 years.)

But Ethan Allen closed that site down about 10 years ago, and moved out of town altogether in 2002. Left behind was an overgrown field next to a railroad track, strewn with a few old buildings, some concrete foundations, and the lingering suspicion that surrounds all old industrial sites—was it polluted? Private investors were uninterested.

Yet now it appears that this same property will become home for 20-30 homes, privately owned and on the tax rolls, close to services and schools, easy to service by the town utilities. It's a perfect spot for a new neighborhood.

Tuesday's celebration made it abundantly clear why a "public-private partnership" was needed to make this turnaround a reality. Those nagging questions about pollution meant that money would have to be spent for extensive testing, as well as to demolish existing buildings and prepare the lot. Permits would have to be obtained, architects retained, and site plans drawn up. Speaking plainly, a private developer would require a lot of money before a single 2x4 was hammered in place, and any houses he or she built there would be very, very expensive, and perhaps unsaleable. No wonder nobody came forward to buy the land.

Over the years, however, both state and federal governments have put together programs to assist in such building projects, especially "smart growth" in villages. To harness those program benefits, though, a leader was necessary, and that leader turned out to be the RACDC, which has played a role in so many improvements since the fires in the early 90s. Without RACDC and without the government programs, such as the new "Brownfields" program of the federal EPA, it is fair to say that Salisbury Square would never have had a chance to be created. The grass would have just gotten longer.

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State and federal officials at Monday's event were clearly thrilled. One of them, Rick DeAngelis of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, said this:

"Over the years, I've been inspired by the resiliency of the Randolph community. You have an extraordinary spirit and effective leadership. I think you are also very lucky to have a group like the Randolph Area Community Development Corp., with the purpose to take on the difficult projects of community renewal and the skills to see them through. Not every community has that resource."

Carol Goldsberry Tucker, chief of U.S. EPA's Brownfields Section in Boston, predicted the Randolph project will be one of the EPA's shining examples. It was the brownfields program which provided the money to test whether there were any environmental hazards on the site. Salisbury Square passed the tests with flying colors as a "squeaky clean" site, making its development much easier.

RACDC's president, Marty Strange, noted that Salisbury Square will require two years of planning and several more years of construction.

In thanking fellow citizens for the "thousands of volunteer hours that have gone into various projects," Strange reminded the audience that it could have been otherwise after three disastrous fires destroyed important downtown buildings in 1991 and 92.

"Without all of these efforts," he said, "Ben Franklin and the Clara Martin Center might be an empty hole in Main Street, the Red Lion Inn would be a shell of a building with nothing but Christmas candles in the window all year long, and the state-of-the-art energy-efficient DuBois and King headquarters would be a dilapidated and dangerous empty schoolhouse."

Strange is taking advantage of that momentum by establishing, for the first time, an RACDC working capital fund, which will permit it to invest early in the life of a project, to be paid back later. Already, $90,000 has been pledged toward the $150,000 goal, he disclosed. It was just the latest evidence of increased professionalism in the RACDC. (The organization, sadly, will lose its professional and effective director, Jeremy Ingpen. He's getting married and following his new wife to New York state.)

Everything that RACDC has done has entailed some risk and controversy. But the benefits of this proactive organization, which enables Randolph to take advantage of difficult opportunities, have never been more clear.