BRUNSWICK

Opposition outnumbered support by a ratio of four to one during a public hearing Thursday regarding the $12 million, 60,000-squarefoot Amtrak train layover and maintenance building proposed for trackside land in west Brunswick.

More than 50 people packed the municipal meeting room at Brunswick Station to voice their opinions of the facility, proposed by Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority — the Portland agency which manages daily Amtrak Downeaster passenger service between Brunswick and Boston.

Erich Thalheimer, a principal noise and vibration specialist at engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, served as moderator.

Also listening in were NNEPRA Executive Director Patricia Quinn and Federal Rail Administration officials Michelle Fishburne, an environmental protection specialist, and Trevor Gibson, from the Office of Freight and Passenger Programs.

Quinn reiterated that the building would improve air quality in nearby neighborhoods, reduce noise and vibration and make more daily train trips possible.

Redwood Lane resident Jeff Reynolds, the first public speaker, said he supported the project and cited the area’s “historical use” as a train yard as the most logical location for it.

“Since the days when Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ the Church- Stanwood site has been zoned and used continuously for railroad operations,” Reynolds said.

“When we think of all the various ways it has and could be used — a switching yard, a trans-loading facility — the layover shed represents the most benign and the least intrusive use of this historical railroad property.”

Other facility proponents included William Lord, a Cape Porpoise resident and Saco train station volunteer; Brunswick Downtown Association director Deb King; Wayne Davis, president of TrainRiders/Northeast; and Janet Dutson, executive director of Freeport Economic Development Committee.

But 21 of the 26 people who took the podium during the 75-minute hearing disagreed.

Many of the dissenters are members of the Brunswick West Neighborhood Coalition. John Shumadine, an attorney from the Portland firm of Murray Plumb and Murray, has been hired to represent the neighborhood group in its fight.

“This location has significant neighborhood opposition and it has zoning issues,” Shumadine said.

Shumadine referred to a zoning variance which, he said, allegedly never got filed and had expired, that would have specified the potential layover property as properly zoned to carry such a project.

Opponents criticized an environmental assessment of the site that was prepared by NNEPRA and approved two weeks ago by the FRA. They cited some of its data as “insufficient and inaccurate” and called instead for an environmental impact statement, or EIS, to be drafted.

FRA will continue to take additional input until the 30- day public comment period expires on Oct. 13. Afterward, FRA officials will respond to “substantive” questions before making a final decision whether an EIS is warranted, Thalheimer said.

If not, NNEPRA could begin construction on the project immediately. However, if an EIS is required, it could take as much as a year or 18 months to complete.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com