Franklin County
“A delegation from Franklin County’s government made it
plain to Boones Mill’s town council Tuesday evening that two roadblocks stand
in the way of a land swap that would save the town’s old railroad depot. The
county has said it will allow the depot to move to the current disposal site if
the town can provide an adequate replacement. And a piece of town property has
been identified, but the status of a railroad crossing could torpedo that plan.
Boone District Supervisor Ronnie Thompson brought County
Administrator Rick Huff and Don Smith, Franklin County’s director of public
works, to the Boones Mill Town Council meeting Tuesday night to explain that
the town must turn the railroad crossing bordering its property into a public
right of way before anything can move forward.
Norfolk Southern granted an easement to the North American
Housing Corp. to cross the tracks for its business purposes in 1998. Boones
Mill has since bought that company’s property and turned it into town land, but
the easement remains unchanged, with the right of way for private business use
only.
The town must obtain from Norfolk Southern a formal
agreement that the railroad can be crossed by the public, so cars can reach the
proposed disposal site… If that is taken care of, Smith explained, the other
main obstacle will be improving access to the site. The most viable solution
would involve the town improving its roads at a cost of about $200,000.”
~Writes Zack Crizer of the Roanoke Times
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