KEITH BERRY (yellow hat), president of the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation, nudges a new flatcar along the tracks near the Historical Railroad Museum in El Dorado. Berry said the foundation has acquired another "gang car" that holds eight riders and is intended to carry the public on future excursions. Photo courtesy from El Dorado Western Railway Foundation
El Dorado County supervisors directed their staff to determine the “feasibility and legality” of removing the rails from the Sacramento-Placerville Transportation Corridor several weeks ago. Tuesday, however, the issue seemed to become murkier than it was before.
After nearly two hours of testimony and deliberation, the board voted unanimously to direct county staff to create one or more proposals that would answer some of the outstanding questions and suggest a way forward.
Folsom City Councilwoman Kerri Howell told the board that the railroad hardware belongs to the transportation corridor’s governing Joint Powers Authority and not to El Dorado County, although the county is a partner in the JPA. Howell said she was relaying the opinion of the JPA’s legal counsel and that of “many but not all members.” Howell represents Folsom on the JPA board of directors.
The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors designated the transportation corridor’s right of way from Shingle Springs to the county line to be a hiking, biking and equestrian facility earlier this year.
Since that time, there has been pressure by “trails” advocates to dismantle and possibly sell the rails to a salvage company. Revenue from such a transaction could be used to help finance trail construction, and estimates have ranged as high as $5 million according to some published reports. However, none of that information has been formally solicited through a request for proposal or a contract with a salvage company.
Emotions have run high for years among those who want to create a “Class 1″ trail on the railbed and those who hope to retain the historical function of the railroad by operating excursion trains on the original right of way. Often categorized as the “train guys” and the “trails people,” another perspective holds that the right of way is wide enough to satisfy the needs and visions of both camps. The right of way reportedly extends from a minimum of about 60 feet to as much as 200 feet in some spots along the nearly 30 miles between Missouri Flat Road and the county line.
Deputy county counsel Paula Frantz, who specializes in land use law for the county, told the Mountain Democrat Wednesday that a final determination of ownership would likely have to be made by a judge. The original purpose of the JPA was to “acquire and preserve” the right of way known as the Placerville Branch of the Southern Pacific Transportation Co. That acquisition was fully accomplished in 1996.
“Southern Pacific transferred ownership to the JPA, so the JPA owns the underlying land,” Frantz explained. “El Dorado County has an easement, so we control it but can’t alter its function.”
She added that it is far less “cut and dried than it would appear, and there’s money involved in all these things. And like any neighborhood dispute, it’s a question of the interpretation of the ‘sales contract.’ It doesn’t matter what one party or the other’s opinion is.”
Summarizing the board’s action of Tuesday, Frantz said supervisors want to know how much it would cost to pull up the rails and the relative value of the materials.
“If it’s worth it they might pursue it, and the JPA might be fine with that,” she said. “Finding out if it’s even financially feasible is the next step.”
Supervisor John Knight is the board’s representative on the JPA and the lead in moving forward on the issue.
“I don’t dispute that the JPA owns the assets and controls the right of way,” Knight said. “But if there’s enough value in the assets, we can move on this, but we need to find out if it’s feasible — or close it off to all use,” Knight added expressing some frustration. “I need more clarity, but I believe we can legally take the rails.”
Under the auspices of the federal Rails to Trails Act, the right of way may revert to rail use if or when, in the future, the original rail company (the abandoning rail line) determines that commercial railroading is once again viable on that right of way. In that event, the company would be financially liable to re-lay the track and upgrade other infrastructure, Steve Schweigerdt of the Rails to Trails Conservancy explained during the board meeting two weeks ago. The land would not revert to earlier owners or easement holders, he said.
And Tuesday, Board Chairman Ray Nutting noted that it was “Rails to Trails that allowed us to be where we are today. I believe everything about this board is pro-rail, pro-train, and we need to talk about interim uses. Rails to Trails ensures the right to revert to rails if and when the timber industry is ever restored.”
Nutting is the owner of a small timber operation and while he has passionately lamented the loss of rail commerce, he has also championed Rails to Trails legislation as a promise, dim as it may be, for protecting a future for heavy railroading in the county.
El Dorado County Director of Transportation Jim Ware has been tasked with leading the effort to find a “proposal” the board can pursue. In an e-mail Ware sent to the Mountain Democrat Wednesday, Ware clarified his role in the process.
“I see my role as the person that sets up and facilitates the meeting between our county counsel and the SPTC-JPA’s Counsel. The outcome of that meeting should result in a report to our board on counsel’s opinion (position) of the status of ownership as well as what we can and can’t do relative to this matter,” ware wrote.
Determining costs and risks associated with any project related to removing the rails and commencing trail construction are a major part of Ware’s assignment, he said. Risks include the actual constructability of a project as well as financial, legal and technical issues.
“I saw the purpose of yesterday’s meeting as an opportunity to present the implementation plan for this project to the board. The board quickly saw that a key component to this effort would be to secure a proposal(s) to see what the county could expect in the way of costs/revenues to implement their direction,” he concluded.
Ware had emphasized to the board Tuesday that a project manager should be assigned to conduct the day-to-day efforts of pursuing all issues relating to an “actionable” proposal. But he also cautioned that assigning staff to the rails project would necessarily take personnel away from other projects. The board must determine the priorities, he explained.
Under a recent reorganization plan, the county Department of Transportation had to lay off about a dozen engineers and other technical staff.
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Posted by Chris Daley on May 26 2011. Filed under Featured Stories,Folsom, News, Placerville. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
It’s been done but why not repeat history? We could call your Choo choo Amerika. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxeakfgEpi0
Is there something we don’t know?
Sometimes thou does’t protest too much……