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Townships to appeal county rail-trail ruling
By P.j. Reilly
Intelligencer Journal
Published:
Jul 13, 2004 9:55 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Six southern Lancaster
County townships plan to appeal the county commissioners’ decision
last month to take through eminent domain the 23-mile Enola Low-Grade Line
property.
Supervisors
in Eden, Martic, Sadsbury,
Providence, Conestoga and Bart townships all have agreed to appeal the
county’s taking of the 930-acre property from Norfolk Southern to
build a rail trail. They have directed a Harrisburg attorney to represent
them.
The commissioners voted June 16 to take the land through eminent domain
after supervisors in the six townships failed to accept an easement
agreement offered by the commissioners which would have made the rail-trail
project a joint county/municipal venture.
“I feel the county did not negotiate with us in good faith,”
said Providence Township supervisor Wayne Herr, who called the
county’s easement proposal “unacceptable.”
County Commissioner Molly Henderson late Monday night said she was not
aware of the decision by the municipalities to appeal the county’s
taking of the Enola property, but she said the county plans to continue its
preliminary work developing the rail line into a trail.
“We are hoping to go forward with this project, and we hope to work
with the townships in the future,” she said.
The townships this spring were poised to receive the land from Norfolk
Southern as soon as some administrative hurdles imposed by the federal
Surface Transportation Board were cleared.
Hoping to establish rights to the line before ownership changed hands, the
county commissioners pitched their easement agreement to the townships in
May.
The agreement would have allowed the townships to own the rail line
property, while guaranteeing the county a 100-foot-wide easement down the
center of the line for a trail.
When they offered the agreement proposal, the commissioners insisted
supervisors in the six townships accept it at their respective June
meetings.
Several of the supervisors said that wasn’t enough time for them to
review the agreement and act on it under their operating rules. None of the
townships accepted the county’s offer.
Citing fears that ownership of the land would be transferred to the townships
before a written agreement was established guaranteeing the rail line would
be preserved as a contiguous corridor, the commissioners voted to file in
county court a “document of taking.”
The commissioners have said that document makes the county the current
owner of the Enola property. Work to secure and improve the line already
has begun under the direction of the county’s parks and recreation
department.
Supervisors in the six townships over the past week have agreed to ask
Harrisburg attorney Scott Wyland to represent
them during their appeal. Wyland has represented
the municipalities for years in their quest to take control of the Enola
property.
At their meeting Monday, Providence supervisors said it will cost the seven
townships between $8,000 and $10,000 to file the appeal in county court.
As the townships contest the county’s actions, they also will
consider their own agreement to maintain a contiguous 30-foot-wide corridor
down the center of the rail line. That corridor could be used for a trail,
according to the agreement.
Some of the townships already have accepted the intermunicipal
agreement, while others have yet to take formal votes on it. The agreement
would only take effect if the townships win their appeal of the
county’s taking of the land.
Intelligencer Journal reporter Michael Ryan and correspondents Debbie Wygent, Bob Scott, Marcella Peyre-Ferry
and Greg Caldwell contributed to this story.
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© 2004 Lancaster
Newspapers
PO Box 1328, Lancaster PA 17608, (717) 291-8811
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