October 11th, 2021 | Story by Gordon Dritschilo | Originally Posted in the Rutland Herald
City officials are looking at ways to make the area around the Amtrak station prettier and better connected to downtown.
Alderman Devon Neary, whose day job is as a transportation planner with the Rutland Regional Planning Committee, said a plan exists and that the planning commission hopes the city will seek a $300,000 transportation grant to make it happen.
“The current state of the Amtrak station is in need of some major upgrades primarily around parking and pedestrian safety,” he said. “There’s not accessible sidewalk or accessible means by bikes or walking.”
Neary said a conceptual design calls for adding a sidewalk to Evelyn Street, increasing the parking, adding trees and green space and connecting the station’s pedestrian facilities to sidewalks that Wal-Mart intends to build as part of the expansion of its garden center.
“Those sidewalks are in their design, so they will be built regardless,” he said.
Neary also said the city was in talks with Brixmor Property Group, which owns the downtown shopping plaza, about coordinating the project with improvements to that end of the plaza.
Brixmor responded to inquiries Monday with a brief statement via email. “We are currently in discussions with the city about the Amtrak improvements, however, no plans have been decided at this point,” it reads.
Neary said Brixmor has sounded receptive, though, and that Rutland Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Brennan Duffy had come up with converting the unused area near TD Bank into a park that could serve as a venue for food trucks.
In the past, downtown restaurant owners have objected to plans to bring food trucks to downtown.
Downtown Rutland Partnership President Shannon Poole said she did not know whether such resistance was likely to arise over trying to get food trucks near the train station.
“I know with COVID, things have shifted and people’s attitudes toward what can bring people downtown may have shifted,” she said. “They’ve all hurt a lot in COVID. Trying to get them as much business as possible is our goal at the DRP.”
Neary said that the area was identified as having a high need for improvement in the 2020 downtown strategic plan. He said the grant would carry a $75,000 local match and that $375,000 should cover both design and construction.
“Any time we can provide a welcoming introduction to Rutland County, that’s a real plus,” said Lyle Jepson, executive director of Community and Economic Development for the Rutland Region.
CEDRR runs the regional marketing program, and Jepson said he had not tracked how many participants in Stay to Stay and similar programs arrived via Amtrak. He said it probably wasn’t many because they all tend to have their own transportation when they visit. However, Amtrak was an important link between Rutland and the rest of the world, he said.
“We need to make sure the first picture of Rutland and Rutland County people see is welcoming and reflecting what we want the rest of the world to see,” he said.