[T]he town of Shelburne is asking a federal court to stop construction on a controversial rail facility, saying it has new evidence that could overturn a recent federal court decision.
The town has been fighting Vermont Railway Inc., which has been building a facility just off Shelburne Road that would primarily store road salt but may also be used to ship commodities along the Route 7 corridor.
The town charged the railway with zoning violations in January and February, leading to a legal battle lasting months. That appeared to come to an end when a federal judge decided June 29 that federal law, which places railroad activities under the oversight of the federal Surface Transportation Board, prevents the state from enforcing its zoning laws against the railroad company.
But Friday the town filed documents in U.S. District Court in Burlington saying it had found out after June 29 that Barrett Trucking, a private company, has a financial interest in the project. The town of Shelburne is arguing that the financial interest by a private company that is not a railroad may give it the power to apply zoning ordinances.
The town is asking the court to use the discovery process to enter new evidence into the court record, including minutes from an Aug. 10 meeting of the Vermont State Infrastructure Bank. The town is also seeking a temporary restraining order to stop development on the Shelburne Road property.
The minutes will show that Barrett Trucking received a $1.5 million loan “to fund a portion of the construction of a transload intermodal facility located on land owned by Vermont Railway in Shelburne,” according to a news release from the town. The town says Barrett Trucking received an additional $2.5 million loan.
Gary von Stange, chair of the Shelburne Selectboard, said in the news release that he was shocked when he saw the meeting minutes. He said no one can assert with a straight face that the project on Shelburne Road is for the railroad company, which is part of Vermont Rail System.
“It is clearly in great part a Barrett Trucking project with two parties unfortunately scheming to avoid proper land use regulations,” von Stange said in the release.
The town said that since January, when it first issued a notice of zoning violation to Vermont Railway, it had suspected this was a Barrett Trucking project “hiding behind Vermont Railway’s assertion of federal pre-emption.”
Barrett Trucking declined to comment for this story.
“We are disappointed by the careless and incorrect accusations made by the town in yet another attempt to delay this project which is vital for the upcoming winter season,” Sheldon Houghton from Vermont Railway said in a statement. He said the company is “confident in the correctness” of the June 29 decision.
“This is not the town of Shelburne versus someone,” said Joe Colangelo, the town manager of Shelburne. “It’s just protecting our rights as we move forward. And there’s already been at least a number of complaints from surrounding neighborhoods about noise disruption.”
