BRUNSWICK

In direct response to a Maine Freedom of Access Act inquiry by The Times Record and another newspaper, the Maine Attorney General’s Office determined that meetings of an advisory group of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) need not be open to the public.

That advisory group, which includes two Brunswick town officials, one Brunswick town staff member and three Brunswick residents, met for the first time on Dec. 2 to discuss progress on a train maintenance facility NNEPRA plans to build south of Pleasant Street — between Stanwood Street and Church Road — as part of the Amtrak Downeaster’s Brunswick expansion.

Information related to the design of the building that was reviewed at the Dec. 2 meeting is publicly available on the Amtrak Downeaster’s website, which can be seen directly at http://ow.ly/7XdZy or under the “ Downeaster Expansion” link at amtrakdowneaster.com.

In a Dec. 1 email to The Times Record, NNEPRA data analyst Terri Diffin wrote that the Dec. 2 meeting of the advisory group would not be open the public and “is for Advisory Group members only.”

Two political officials — state Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, and District 7 Brunswick Town Councilor Benet Pols — were admitted to that meeting in addition to the group members.

Patricia Quinn, NNEPRA’s executive director, told reporters after the Dec. 2 meeting that NNEPRA board chairman Martin Eisenstein made the decision to admit Gerzofsky and Pols prior to the meeting.

Eisenstein did not return a Dec. 2 phone call requesting comment on the decision.

When provided with a full list of attendees at the Dec. 2 meeting, Maine Chief Deputy Attorney General Linda Pistner wrote to The Times Record in an email Monday that “ the meeting was not a public proceeding requiring notice and an opportunity for the public to attend.”

In that opinion, Pistner cited Maine Revised Statute Annotated Title 1, Subsection 402(F), which states that “an advisory organization is covered (by the Maine Freedom of Access Act) only if it is ‘ established, authorized or organized by law or resolve or by executive order issued by the governor …’.”

“The Advisory Group established by NNEPRA,” Pistner wrote, “does not fit that definition.”

According to the agenda for the Dec. 2 meeting, the advisory group was created “to facilitate community comment on the design” of the train maintenance facility and will “review information pertinent to the design of the building and provide comment to NNEPRA’s staff and consultants and to the NNEPRA board.”

Quinn said after the Dec. 2 meeting that a public forum on the advisory group’s work would be held sometime in January. She did not identify any dates or a location for such a meeting at that time.

The building

In the documents related to the Dec. 2 meeting, NNEPRA’s consultants from Parsons Brinckerhoff provided preliminary floor plans and design specifications for a 60,000-square-foot train depot that would house three trains for regular maintenance.

A preliminary schedule provided by Parsons Brinckerhoff suggests that construction of the facility would begin around May 2012.

In a Nov. 3 letter, Quinn told Brunswick officials that preliminary cost estimates from Parsons Brinckerhoff for the 60,000-squarefoot facility “indicate that a facility which maximizes mitigation will exceed the anticipated project budget.”

Quinn told The Times Record in a Nov. 9 phone interview that reverting to previous plans for a 40,000- square-foot facility that would house two trains could be a possible way to solve the projected shortfall.

On Dec. 2, Quinn said that change is still possible, though the preliminary sketches dated Dec. 2 show only plans for a three-train facility.

Noise

After the Dec. 2 meeting, Brunswick resident members of the advisory group representing neighbors of the planned facility said they are most concerned about NNEPRA’s methods of measurement for noise pollution at the site.

A study conducted by Parsons Brinckerhoff from Sept. 27 to Oct. 5 concluded that noise and vibration from a three- train facility are expected to be within guidelines set by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

Anna Nelson, a spokeswoman for the neighborhood group and advisory group member, said after the Dec. 2 meeting that sound engineer Charles Wallace, who has offices near the planned facility, would review the Parsons Brinckerhoff sound studies before a January meeting of the advisory group.

In August, Wallace completed his own sound study, concluding that a train maintenance facility housing only two trains, leaving one idling outside, would exceed the World Health Organization criteria for sleep disturbance.

The advisory group will meet next in early January to discuss building performance standards and to discuss criteria for selecting a winning bid for construction of the facility.