Gray taxpayers will have the opportunity to vote to support the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad on Nov. 8.

At a meeting Tuesday, the Gray Town Council agreed 3-1 to put on the ballot the question of appropriating nearly $500,000 from the town to help support the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad. Councilor Lynn Gallagher opposed the measure and Councilor Peter Gellerson absent. The money would come from an undesignated fund balance.

The nonprofit Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad runs 2-foot narrow gauge rail cars on a track on the waterfront in Portland, along with a museum on the history of the narrow gauge railroad in Maine.

Five years ago, Gray was selected by the company’s board to be the railroad’s new home. Other towns under consideration included Bridgton and Monson.

Gallagher said although she supports the Narrow Gauge Railroad coming to town, she voted against the measure because “as a council, we haven’t fulfilled our obligation to taxpayers in fully outlining the terms and the details of the proposal.”

The council and railroad should have a written agreement before moving forward, she said.

Council Chairman Matt Sturgis said in an interview Wednesday that the town will work to develop a payment schedule whereby the town’s funding would be tied to the company’s performance benchmarks. For example, the railroad company would only receive funds when it completed necessary permitting, or reached an agreement for the purchase of the land next to the Gray Plaza, where the Narrow Gauge is looking to relocate.

The property is owned by Dan Craffey.

The railroad’s relocation to Gray has been touted as attraction that would draw people to the town. In Portland, the railroad offers rides along the waterfront and a special holiday events.

The Narrow Gauge Railroad has operated on the Portland waterfront for 24 years. The museum property at 58 Fore St. was purchased by Portland development company CPB2 in 2014. In 2015, CPB2 and railroad officials agreed to a lease extension of the Portland museum location through 2017.

Donnell Carroll, executive director of the Narrow Gauge Railroad, said in July that the company wants to be open and running in 2018 at the proposed site along Route 100 behind the Gray Plaza. The Narrow Gauge Railroad will be allowed to continue operating trains at their track on the Portland waterfront until 2023, but will likely forfeit the ownership of the museum property in a year and a half.

Also at the Sept. 20 meeting, in advance of the statewide referendum to legalize recreational marijuana, the council voted unanimously to place a 180-day moratorium on the construction of marijuana retail establishments and social clubs.

Sturgis said the moratorium will give the council an opportunity to review the potential impact of marijuana-related businesses on the town if the statewide referendum, Question 1, passes.

A CLOSER LOOK:

The exact wording of the referendum question regarding the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad is as follows:

Shall the Town raise and appropriate the sum of $498,000 and authorize a grant of such funds by the Town to the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad & Industrial Heritage Trust, a Maine nonprofit corporation, to be paid on such date after July 1, 2017 as determined by the Town Council and to be on such written terms as determined by the Town Council, after notice and a public hearing on the same, to fund the acquisition of property by such nonprofit corporation and the design, permitting and improvement of property of such nonprofit corporation at and near the New Portland Road in Gray, Maine, for economic development purposes and to support such nonprofit corporation’s location of its facilities in the Town of Gray for use of historic two-foot gauge railroad equipment for the education and enjoyment of the public?

A car from the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum & Co. is on display along Route 100, near the Gray Plaza. Residents of Gray will vote in November on whether to help fund the railroad project’s move to Gray.