RUMFORD — A community meeting to answer questions about developing a zip line park will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 14, at Rumford Falls Auditorium. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Wow Za Zip Lines members Tom Carey, Jim Rinaldo, Jim Sysko and Seth Carey will attend.

On May 4, the Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to place a request on the annual town meeting warrant to lease town land for the project. The question will appear as Article 9 at the annual business meeting and public hearing June 1.

Town Manager John Madigan said he and the Board of Selectmen had been meeting with zip line developers to discuss leasing three parcels of land along the Androscoggin River so Wow Za Zip Lines can build a zip line park.

The lots are on a parcel north of Morency Park on the east side of the Androscoggin River, a parcel across from Rite Aid, and a parcel near the town’s snow dump on Rumford Avenue.

The lease would be “based on terms and conditions decided by the Board of Selectmen,” Madigan said. The zip line developers would be responsible for keeping a decommissioning fund and would restore the area to its previous conditions after the lease ends, he said.

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The vote will be the second time in two years residents have faced a zip line question at the annual town meeting. In 2013, they voted against a series of articles that would have allowed the town to sell two lots along the Androscoggin River, including a parcel behind the Rumford Public Library, and a right of way across a third lot to a zip line park developer for $1 each.

Madigan said the town “needs to be sure that the request won’t have a negative impact on our use of the snow dump.”

Public Works foreman Andy Russell said any concerns he had about the parcels the zip line developers are seeking were addressed.

Rinaldo said the zip line would “take off around Hartford Street, go down the river over the little falls,” continue under Memorial Bridge and end at the snow dump.

bfarrin@sunmediagroup.net


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