Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-07-16
Commissioners at a Hearing Re.
move the Last Obstacle.
Portions of Main and King Streets Or
dered observation-disclosures Not
Yet Awarded but Early Work
Seems Probable.

| after hearing before the street commits
sioners, the officials mentioned formally
[ declared that the portions of Main and
| King streets mentioned in the mandate OF
| the supreme court as part of the station
plans would be discontinued. 1t Is now
| only matter of days. 1t is believed. be-
| fore ground will be broken for the cree
| ton of the station.
! Contrary to many rumors, the contract
| has not been awarded. A Free Press re-
porter asked Attorney f. w. Lawrence
of the Rutland railroad yesterday about
1t, MIR. Lawrence being here to attend
the meeting before the commissioners
The attorney said that work on the
| station would be begun within n short
| time, but just how long he could not
| state. The matter has been held UP be.
| cause of certain prelimnaries that must
| be settled, the discontinuance of parts of
Main and Lake streets probably being the
last one Of the final arrangements.
At the meeting yesterday, which was
called for the purpose of hearing who
| might be interested In the discontinuance
of the streets mentioned, there were pres
ent the street commissioners, Frank O.
Sinclair, George =. futile and Thomas
| Reeves, II, S. Howard and J. T. Stearns
| of the committee which had the matter
of the station last in charge Mayor James
f. Burke, Attorney f. w. Lawrence of
the Rutland railroad, John ]. Allen and
| City Attorney A. l.. Sherman.
NO FORMAL OBJECTION
Nobody appeared before the commits
sioners to make formal objection as to
| the discontinuance of the streets. al
| though the question of the advlsabiity
| of doing so was raised. City Attorney
Sherman handed the commissioners the
mandate of the supreme court which re-
v!ses the original order of the public serv-
| ice commission and orders the loca ton of
| the station at the foot of Main street, the
city to pay the sum of $1,000 and to dis
| continue certain portions of Lake and
Main streets specified. Mr.. Stearns sub
mitted that the conditions relative to the
payment of money and discontinuance
| of streets were a part of the courts
| mandate. Mr.. Allen took the stand that
the supreme court in it's mandate evident,
| ly intended to give the city discretionary
powers and that If the mandate was to be
| taken as a whole ii must be construed as
meaning the city would have it's new sta
| ton located at the foot of Main street
on the conditions that Burlington would
| first agree to pay the money mentioned
and would submit to having the parts CT
Main and Lake streets discontinued
| These last conditions could not be COM
piled with until after the vote of the
people, Mr.. Allen said he wanted to do
| nothing to block the progress of the well
fare of Burlington and did not want to be
regarded as an obstructionist, but per-
sonally he did not feel that the location
of the station at the foot of Main street
was desirable to the best interests of the
city of Burlington
| Attorney Lawrence said that the man
| date of the supreme court seemed to COM
ply with the wishes Of all the parties in
terested and If there was now any ques-
ton of a new location or changed loca
ton to be considered it would undo all
| the work that had been done up to date
and it might be a question Of years be-
fore all parties could agree again.
Mayor Burke toook occasion to say that
| the fight over the building of a new sta.
| ton had been a long and hard one, be-
| cause there were so many different opin-
| ions and interests in conflict. The final
| mandate Of the supree court in it's pro-
visions presented the best solution of the
question and all parties We're as we'll sat-
isfied as they could be, considering that
the final verdict was in the nature OF q
| compromise.
QUESTIONS RAISED BY j. j. ALLEN.
| Mr.. Allen was asked what his obiec-
tons were to the location at the foot OF
Main street. He said, first, that Main
street ought not to he discontinued be-
| cause 1t was one of the main arteries to
the lake, was laid out as n street to the
lake and had been used as such WITH
the coming Of the deep waterways and
Lake Champlain enjoying increased bust
ness we should keep all the lake front we
could. There were also certain sentiment
tai reasons. ceCond reason advanced
| by Mr.. Allen against cutting off Main
| street was that after the street had been
| discontinued 1t would not be possible 10
| build the station for a time as the Ques-
| ton of title to the land formerly the
| street would not he settled. Mr. Allen claim
| ed that the street was first owned by the
| original proprietors of Burlington and
| that the property discontinued as a pub
| lie highway would revert to their heirs
and that the latter might possibly maze
| some trouble. II would be necessary 20
have other litigation before the railroad
| came into clear title. Another reason
advanced by Mr.. Allen was that the sta
| ton approaches We're not sufficient as
| provided In the plans. He also raised the
point that a ten car train. If stopped a.
the new station as laid out. would extend
from King to College streets and II the cars
were to be Of the long kind that are soon
to be made both streets would be block I'd
during train time. He suggested he
north side of Main street a s station %
cation.
Attorney Lawrence, in replying to Mr.
Allen, quoted law enacted in 1913 IN
which 1t is provided that in the case If
discontinued streets the land reverts To
the AUDITING property owners. He al7o
said that If the heirs of the n origin,l
proprietors of Burlington were to en-
} deaVor to establish rights in order to OBJ
tain few cents apiece it would be quite
without precedent.
II After some more discussion all parties
went down to the site of the station and
looked the ground over, The street COM
missioners then returned and made their
decision that the portions of streets "A
question were discontinued In accord
ance with the mandate of the supreme
court