Town Will Hire Special Counsel to Look at Commuter Rail Deal

Town Manager Bill Keegan has been given permission by the selectmen to hire special counsel to review the and respond to the deal between the MBTA and the Kraft Group to bring a commuter rail stop to the train platform at Gillette Stadium.

The decision comes as Keegan, along with the selectmen have expressed their displeasure about the lack of communication and transparency between the two groups and the town during negotiations over the past year.

Special counsel will likely be tasked with looking at the process and seeing if there something was missed or if the town can obtain a role in the situation.

“I would to have a permitting attorney that understands MEPA and railway systems to say this his how we got here and everything is fine or mistakes were made,” Selectman Jim DeVellis said.

While the board did receive answers to questions they had from the Department of Transportation, an agreement was signed between the MBTA and the Kraft Group only days after the town received their answers.

“It kinda takes away from credibility the process when you do something like that,” Keegan said.

The idea of rail service to Foxborough has been discussed for years, going back to the Stadium Act of 1999. It was cited as a need in the town’s Master Plan and in two feasibility studies in 2010 and 2011.

Despite questions on the process, support is evident for public transportation in Foxborough. A non-scientific poll by Town Planner Sharon Wason and the Foxboro Reporter had two-thirds of respondents expressing support for commuter rail service in Foxborough.

Wason, a self described transit fanatic, said she lives in her Walpole neighborhood partly because of the access to a train.

“I made that decision and my perception is that my quality of life is better because I know I can get on the train and be downtown in 38 minutes for the fifth of the costs of parking for an hour,” she said.

During Citizen’s Input, Brian Murphy, a Boston resident and Patriot Place employee, said such a service would help him and other employees at the shopping center get to work.

If all goes according to plan, rail service in Foxborough will start at the end of 2016.