LEOMINSTER – A dispute over a parcel of land used for parking and storage by a power equipment business and purchased in 2023 by the city of Leominster for the Twin Cities Rail Trail has spilled over into social media.
The owners of Schofield Power Equipment in Summer Street claim they were kept in the dark about plans for the property adjoining their building. The business used the land to store equipment.
“We received a letter from the city on Monday (January 13). The city gave us two weeks to agree to its terms to lease the property,” said Shawna Schofield, the granddaughter of the company’s founder. “We have until February 1.”
“It was never their land,” Mayor Dean Mazzarella said in response to a question from the Telegram & Gazette. “They never got permission to use the land, they just took it.”
Mazzarella acknowledged that the company had been sent letters, but stressed that a conviction prompted the company’s owners to call the city with questions and concerns.
“We have no problem with changing the deal,” Mazzarella said.
The turnaround has been prominent on social media, with the Schofield Facebook page filled with comments from residents and customers blasting the town.
The land, less than two-tenths of an acre, belonged to CSX, a railroad company, until the city bought it. It is part of the Twin Cities Rail Trail project, a bike and walking trail that connects Leominster to Fitchburg. The property will be landscaped and serve as a portal to downtown.
“There will be benches, places to sit along the trail, where people can tie their shoes, rest,” Mazzarella said.
While the business has been on the property since 1981, the company only had a lease with the railroad for the past few years, Mazzarella said. The lease was negotiated in 2021, after the city surveyed the property in preparation for the purchase. The survey showed that the business had encroached on land, including railway tracks.
“The trains were still running when we moved in,” Schofield said, adding that they fixed the lot when the tracks were pulled. The family tried to buy the tract, but said the railroad told them it wasn’t for sale.
At issue is less than two-tenths of an acre of land, the property the Schofield business now uses, compared to the one-tenth of an acre the city is willing to lease. That piece could cost the business $7,000 a year if it chooses to sign the city contract.
“It may not seem like we’re losing a lot, but we’re losing access to our property for contractors, landscape trucks and trailers, for 18-wheelers that deliver equipment, for our contractors,” Schofield said. “When it’s busy in the spring and fall, the parking lot is beyond full.”
The mayor pointed to a commercial parking lot in front of the business, suggesting that when it’s busy, employees could park in that lot. Mazzarella said he offered to drop the rental price of those spaces from the contract offered.
Mazzarella said the city doesn’t want to force anyone out of business. However, Schofield claims the family was advised to clean up the portion of property now owned by the city or face losing their business license. The contract prohibits the storage of hazardous material on the city-owned portion of the property and also requires the company to purchase liability insurance.
“They’re doing well,” Mazzarella said, noting the city spent $137,000 in the past two years and $417,000 over the past decade on the business. “They get more business from the city than any other small business in the city.”
According to city documents, the 5-mile rail trail was conceived in 2004 as a way to transform and utilize the abandoned rail corridor. Then-US Congressman John Oliver secured $4 million in federal funding to build the trail. A series of public hearings followed in 2016.
The design work was completed in 2018, where in 2020, the City Council enters into a lease agreement with the abutters. The ribbon cutting for phase 1 of the project was held in 2022.
The timeline provided by the mayor indicates that the city has spoken with the Schofield family about the plans and revised it to accommodate concerns they expressed. The city purchased the tract in August 2023 for $1.2 million, purchasing a total of 3.4 acres from Carter Park at Mill Street to a point 75 feet south of Mechanic Street.
However, the Schofield family claim their efforts to get involved in the project were ignored.
“We weren’t alerted to the public meetings, we weren’t informed,” Schofield said. “The city didn’t want us to know what was going on.”
The family, acknowledging the success of their business, said they may be in the market for a new location. However, the cost of moving and preparing a property for their business is unbearable.
