Site agreements in place to allow prison proces to move forward

City clears major hurdle in effort to get federal prison

Barbara Tetreault

BERLIN— City officials have cleared a major hurdle in the effort to get a federal prison in Berlin.
After over 14 months of negotiations, the city has lined up three potential sites for the federal prison. Quietly and behind the scenes, City Planner Pamela Laflamme said city officials and AVER consultant Don Jutton have spent considerable time getting the necessary site agreements in place.
Of the three sites identified, two are on land owned by Hancock Timber Resource Group. The Hancock land went on the market in the middle of negotiations and final negotiations were carried out with the bidder who expects to purchase the land next week.
"It has been", Jutton said, "a long and arduous process".
The third site is on city-owned property off Route 110.
Now city officials hope to see the next stage of the process, the environmental impact assessment, get underway quickly. That process can take up to 24 months to complete.
After residents overwhelmingly approved a referendum supporting a federal prison in Berlin in May 2002, the city made a formal application to the Bureau of Prisons.
The city was told it needed to come up with a number of potential sites that the bureau could consider during the environmental impact study process. With various prison reform groups watching the bureau, Laflamme said the bureau is careful not to pre-determine any specific location.
"They are more comfortable examining multiple sites," said LafLamme.
The city had to provide the bureau with an agreement that would allow it access to the individual site for the EIS process and ensure the property would be available for purchase if the site was selected.
The city's first preference is to locate a federal prison near the state prison off the East Milan Road and they approached Hancock which owned the land in that area. The city and Hancock spent about five months negotiating a letter of authorization but the structure of the agreement was not acceptable to the bureau.
Jutton said the city then worked out an arrangement in which the N.H. Community Development Finance Authority approved $300,000 in tax credits to the city. The Community Loan Fund agreed it would provide the remaining money to purchase the site which the loan fund would hold. Under the proposal, the city would have retained an option to purchase the property which it would have assigned to the bureau.
Before the deal was finalized, Hancock put the land on the market as part of 53,000 acres in the North Country it is selling. When the bids were opened this past May, a Maine logging contractor, Thomas Dillon, had put in a bid to buy Hancock's land in Berlin including the land targeted for the prison. Dillon said he expects to close on the purchase a week from today.
Jutton said Dillon was receptive to negotiating with the city and the two parties have already signed an agreement for the East Milan Road site.
The terms of the agreement call for the city to put the $300,000 it receives from the sale of the tax credits into an escrow account. Dillon will make the property available to the bureau for the studies it needs but will also harvest timber off the land. The land has been appraised with the standing timber. A second appraisal will be performed once it has been logged to establish the sale price.
Dillon may chose to sell the land to the city which would use the money in the escrow account to cover the purchase price. If the bureau decided to build on the site, it would purchase the property from the city. The proceeds from the sale would be used to support AVER's economic development efforts in Berlin. If bureau rejected the site, the city and CDFA would decide to either use or sell the land for economic restructuring efforts.
Jutton said Dillon may decide to hold onto the land until the bureau makes a decision. If the bureau purchases the land from Dillon, the money in the escrow acount would be used for economic development.
The city asked Dillon for a second agreement for a parcel of Hancock land off Route 110 near Head Pond. He agreed but asked the city to reduce the size of the parcel it wanted.
Laflamme said she and City Engineer Jim Wheeler have done that and the final details of that agreement are being worked out with Dillon.
Jutton was appreciative of Dillon's willingness to work with the city on the two sites and described him as fair.
"It was real easy to do a deal with him," he said.
The third piece be forwarded to the bureau is some of the land the city purchased several years ago for a potential industrial park.
Laflamme said Pamela Chandler, the bureau's site selection specialist, is on vacation and not expected back until the middle of next week. She said she expects to talk to Chandler as soon as she returns.
Laflamme said she is also keeping in touch with the staff of U.S. Senator Judd Gregg. Gregg has managed to get the funds for the EIS process approved through Congress. Laflamme said Gregg remains supportive of the city's efforts to attract a prison.
Laflamme cautioned that while the city would like to see the federal prison located near the existing state prison, the bureau will decide the location.
"While the city has a preferred site, the Bureau of Prisons will do their own independent evaluation and determine the actual location," she said.
Both Jutton and Laflamme said they are glad to finally get the necessary site agreements and move the process forward to the next step.
"I'm pleased that this piece is completed and we can quickly move into the EIS process," said Laflamme.
City Manager Patrick MacQueen warned, however, that it is a long process and there are bound to be other wrinkles. He said he remains optimistic that the city will be successful in the end.

Poll: N.H. residents believe country is on right track

Bass gets less than enthusiastic support

DURHAM (AP)— New Hampshire residents in general feel the country is on the right track and find their national politicians, all Republicans, are doing a good to fair job, according to the Granite State Poll.
Sen. Judd Gregg enjoys strong grades, while Sen. John Sununu and Reps. Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley get less enthusiastic support, according to the University of New Hampshire Survey Center’s survey.
The poll, based on telephone interviews of 520 randomly selected adults between June 17 and June 30, has a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.
With more than a year until the November 2004 election, 58 percent of New Hampshire residents think favorably of Gregg, 16 percent unfavorably, 10 percent are neutral and 16 percent don’t know enough about him to say.
Gregg’s net favorability rating — percentage of favorable opinion minus unfavorable opinion — is 42 percent, with solid Republican and Democratic support.
Sununu’s favorability rating has declined with 48 percent having a favorable opinion, 29 percent unfavorable, 11 percent neutral and 11 percent not knowing enough about him. Sununu’s net favorability rating has dropped to 19 points from 32 points in April, 2003.
‘‘He receives overwhelming support from Republicans, but Democrats and liberals dislike him,’’ said Andrew Smith, UNH Survey Center director.
Bass’ favorability ratings have slipped. Statewide, 46 percent think of him favorably, 15 percent unfavorably, 17 percent are neutral and 22 percent don’t know enough about him.
Bass fares better in his district where 54 percent have a favorable opinion, 15 percent an unfavorable opinion, 14 percent are neutral and 17 percent of 2nd Congressional District adults say they don’t know enough about him.
Bass’ net favorability rating is 31 percent, lowest since the poll began ratings in October 2001. But his net favorability rating in his district remains at 39 percent.
In the 1st Congressional District, Bradley’s favorability ratings have remained relatively unchanged since his election last year.
Statewide, 37 percent think favorably of Bradley, 14 percent unfavorably, 20 percent are neutral and 29 percent do not know enough about him. In his district, 41 percent have a favorable opinion, 14 percent unfavorable, 23 percent are neutral and 22 percent don’t know enough about him.
Statewide, Bradley’s net favorability rating is 23 percent, down from 29 percent in April. In his district, Bradley’s net favorability rating is 27 percent, down from 35 percent in April.
On the ‘‘right track — wrong track’’ question, 56 percent of New Hampshire residents believe the country is headed in the right direction, 38 percent feel it is on the wrong track and 5 percent are unsure.
Republicans and conservatives feel very strongly that the U.S. is on the right track, whereas Democrats and liberals are uneasy about the path the country is taking.
New Hampshire adults are more confident about the country’s direction than adults nationwide. In the nationwide Cook Political Report Poll at the end of June, 46 percent believed the country was headed in the right direction, 50 percent felt it was on the wrong track and 4 percent weren’t sure.