RUMFORD – Residents overwhelmingly approved closure of a section of Railroad Street in return for town ownership or easements on about 33 acres from NewPage Corp. and the Rumford Falls Power Co.

The paper mill plans to build a $5 million electrical substation on a portion of the closed road section and adjacent land it already owns.

Tony Lyons, spokesman for the mill, said the section of Railroad Street acquired by NewPage will likely be closed within a few weeks. Some area people use Railroad Street as a shortcut between downtown Rumford and Route 108.

In return for the closure, the town gets ownership of land it has been using for recreation, for public parks, or as a snow disposal site for many years.

Properties in the swap include Morency Park and other lands along the banks of the Androscoggin River, Veterans Memorial Park, the Virginia ball field and adjacent land, the ball fields and ice skating rink along Lincoln Avenue, the so-called snow dump along the river off Rumford Avenue, and the overflow parking lot adjacent to the former Agway building.

The mill also agreed to build a turnaround at the beginning of the closed section of Railroad Street.

According the 10-page town warrant and action taken by the nearly 40 voters who turned out, the town will be allowed to access and maintain its fire alarm system along the discontinued portion of the street.

Lyons said he expects the deed transfers to be signed within the next few days, then the mill will begin the Department of Environmental Protection permitting process for the electrical substation.

He said construction of the substation should begin this summer, with a completion date scheduled for summer 2008.

Selectmen have said that the land swap was a good deal for the town. Little, if any, taxes will be lost. Chairman Jim Rinaldo said the town will likely gain an as-yet undetermined number of tax dollars once the new substation is built. Also, he said the cost to repair the pot-holed Railroad Street would be at least $300,000.

With Monday’s action, virtually all land parcels once owned by the mill and used by the town have been deeded to the town.