The former Strathmore Paper Mill has long been the elephant in the room for Turners Falls.
The community has been both an observer and, in more recent years, an active participant in the defunct factory complex’s unfolding history. It has for years sat idle and vacant between the Connecticut River and the Power Canal near the downtown business district. In more recent times, the town has come to own it, and now must figure out what to do with a partly destroyed, decaying factory.
The choices come with costs.
Monday, Montague voters will be asked once again to invest in the property and the town’s future by approving a debt exclusion that will provide nearly $400,000 for removal of asbestos and other hazardous material on the site. This will clear the way for private redevelopment or demolition of the buildings that would make way for new development.
We call on voters to vote “yes.”
This vote is actually the second step of allocating money for the cleanup. Montague’s town meeting members last month authorized spending the $385,000. Monday’s Proposition 2½ election is open to all the town’s voters, who will be asked to add an additional $10 a year to the tax bill for a typical homeowner over the next decade.
That may not seem like much to most residents, but we realize that for people on a tight budget, it may be asking a lot. But this investment has the potential to yield benefits for the property and community.
Those backing the project see the removal of hazardous materials as removing a hurdle to long-desired redevelopment. Right now, just one of the 10 buildings has been targeted for redevelopment. Local developer Robert Obear earlier this year unveiled a plan to rehab a building for mixed residential and commercial use.
Obear talked about the money necessary for redeveloping one building. Removal of the hazardous materials will makes his plans or anyone else’s more likely.
And it’s not just providing a developer with a bit of financial relief. It’s also demonstrating that the town is serious about redevelopment and willing to partner in the process, knowing that a revitalized building will come with its own financial rewards, in taxes and business income.
Meanwhile, the alternative of putting no more public money into the Strathmore doesn’t make sense, particularly since the town would likely have to pay eventually to demolish and clean up the complex.
We think a better chapter can be written. But to do so, voters need to make the necessary investment now and approve the debt exclusion on Monday.