March 28 2022
Well over 100 Clayonians attended the CCC's ERTS Hearing
About a month ago a
group of landowners attended a County Commission meeting and
expressed their concerns over losing access to their homes if
the ERTS trail is completed between Hartland and Queen Shoals.
Responding to the ladies' request, Commissioner Fran King
organized a Town Hall style meeting between the home owners,
Bright Industries (RR owner), elected officials and Govt
agencies.
Held Monday March 28th from 2 to 4pm, right at 100 homeowners attended the meeting held in the Circuit Courtroom upstairs in the Courthouse.
As for the elected folks and Govt officials showing up, not so much. Reps from DNR? Senators, Delegates? Didn't happen with one exception.
Senator Richard Lindsay Jr (D) from the 8th Senatorial District did attend and participated during the question and answer session. Note: Clayberry will be in the 8th Senatorial District after redistricting takes affect on Jan 1st.
Frank Jorgensen from Elk River Railroad was up front and handled 99% of the questions, questions and after questions, and mostly the same questions over and over. With the patience of a Saint, the responded to each of the topics.
Back in the peanut gallery, the Elk River Trail Foundation was also in attendance and answered a few questions. Mitch DeBoard from the Business Development Authority (BDA) was there briefly. He left to do his school bus run.
If you're looking for rock throwing, potty mouth, squeezing anybody around the neck, didn't happen. Instead, Clayonians held their cool while getting their point across.
Held Monday March 28th from 2 to 4pm, right at 100 homeowners attended the meeting held in the Circuit Courtroom upstairs in the Courthouse.
As for the elected folks and Govt officials showing up, not so much. Reps from DNR? Senators, Delegates? Didn't happen with one exception.
Senator Richard Lindsay Jr (D) from the 8th Senatorial District did attend and participated during the question and answer session. Note: Clayberry will be in the 8th Senatorial District after redistricting takes affect on Jan 1st.
Frank Jorgensen from Elk River Railroad was up front and handled 99% of the questions, questions and after questions, and mostly the same questions over and over. With the patience of a Saint, the responded to each of the topics.
Back in the peanut gallery, the Elk River Trail Foundation was also in attendance and answered a few questions. Mitch DeBoard from the Business Development Authority (BDA) was there briefly. He left to do his school bus run.
If you're looking for rock throwing, potty mouth, squeezing anybody around the neck, didn't happen. Instead, Clayonians held their cool while getting their point across.
Frank Jorgenson from Elk River RR answered every question and often answered the same question more than once
Before
getting the Q&A part started, Frank Jorgensen provided all
with an update on the ever growing hiking, biking, horseback
riding trail along the Elk River. According to the Gospel of
Frank, the five part project plan remains unchanged from when
it was announced five years during a BDA meeting at Two Run.
In a nutshell: Project 1 is the section of ERTS from Ivydale to Pisgah which is about done; Project 2 was the addition North of Duck which is nearly complete; Project 3 from Queen Shoals down to our Southern border colony, Clendenin; Project 4 from Duck up to Gassaway which is about 90% complete to date; and finally, the reason for this hearing, Project 5 between Hartland to Queen Shoals.
With most of the other stuff nearing completion this Summer, the problem section down to Queen Shoals was the center of attention for this coverage.
For those that don't know... lots of people live along the RR rights of way (ROW). Housing has been in place for well over 100 years. When the trains stopped running decades ago, landowners starting using the RR rights of way to get to their homes. In other areas, there was flat land on the edge of the ROW and that served as easement for vehicular traffic of all kinds.
Some owners think they have an absolute right to use the ROW. Others brought with them old deeds which reverted the ROW to the original land owners in the late 1880's. Others spoke on, we've used that road for decades and now you are trying to take it away from us!!! There were a few heated exchanges.
Concerns expressed:
This is a great way to steal land
Your railroad lost the authority to own that ROW after you didn't build the tracks forty year ago. YOU have no easement
One lady felt there was no economic advantage to growing tourism instead of leaving things just as they are.
For a solid 2 hours, the questions, and repeated questions kept coming. Some of em were better than others. There are instances where the RR ROW has been paved for public use by the State Road gang.
As for the economic benefit of having a hiking, biking, horseback riding trail for County Clay, Foundation Chair Ken Tawney provided: there's a bunch of economic gain, in Clendenin there's a already a new brewery, bed and breakfasts have opened, Air BnB's have come; a new kayak livery has opened; new jobs have come to pass, they expect to realize a $5M annual increase ; and a new "trail town" study should be complete this Fall which will serve as a guide on how to get things growing along for the entire length of ERTS (includes Clayberry for instance).
After hearing the same dumb bunny questions over and over, Tawney seemed to get peed and sat down.
In a nutshell: Project 1 is the section of ERTS from Ivydale to Pisgah which is about done; Project 2 was the addition North of Duck which is nearly complete; Project 3 from Queen Shoals down to our Southern border colony, Clendenin; Project 4 from Duck up to Gassaway which is about 90% complete to date; and finally, the reason for this hearing, Project 5 between Hartland to Queen Shoals.
With most of the other stuff nearing completion this Summer, the problem section down to Queen Shoals was the center of attention for this coverage.
For those that don't know... lots of people live along the RR rights of way (ROW). Housing has been in place for well over 100 years. When the trains stopped running decades ago, landowners starting using the RR rights of way to get to their homes. In other areas, there was flat land on the edge of the ROW and that served as easement for vehicular traffic of all kinds.
Some owners think they have an absolute right to use the ROW. Others brought with them old deeds which reverted the ROW to the original land owners in the late 1880's. Others spoke on, we've used that road for decades and now you are trying to take it away from us!!! There were a few heated exchanges.
Concerns expressed:
This is a great way to steal land
Your railroad lost the authority to own that ROW after you didn't build the tracks forty year ago. YOU have no easement
One lady felt there was no economic advantage to growing tourism instead of leaving things just as they are.
For a solid 2 hours, the questions, and repeated questions kept coming. Some of em were better than others. There are instances where the RR ROW has been paved for public use by the State Road gang.
As for the economic benefit of having a hiking, biking, horseback riding trail for County Clay, Foundation Chair Ken Tawney provided: there's a bunch of economic gain, in Clendenin there's a already a new brewery, bed and breakfasts have opened, Air BnB's have come; a new kayak livery has opened; new jobs have come to pass, they expect to realize a $5M annual increase ; and a new "trail town" study should be complete this Fall which will serve as a guide on how to get things growing along for the entire length of ERTS (includes Clayberry for instance).
After hearing the same dumb bunny questions over and over, Tawney seemed to get peed and sat down.
Commissioners Dave Schoolcraft and Fran King conducted the meeting. Emphasis was, don't turn this into a brawl
On and on they went. After wearing out a nearly new ball point pen, we're switching gears to the front line take aways.
Appalachians have a common trait. We are clanish. We're not big on any change. We want to be left alone. We don't understand why we can't drive on someone else's property. Many of those in attendance NEVER had a rights of way to their property. About as many never had a title search for those holdings before purchasing. Others were duped by real estate agents that told em: There ain't no problem getting there. The railroad ain't never coming back. Liar liar, pants on fire!
Before we get over to Frank's side of the issue..... Remember the Native Americans 150 years ago? When the railroads came across the West, they said F the Indians, full speed ahead! For those that remember history, they know not to trust railroad executives.... past practices speak volumes!
For this meeting, Frank answered every question asked and did so with the very same straight forward answers he provided the county five years ago.
Basically, no landowner will lose access to their property. Jorgensen, "We are not going to cut off anybody.." The RR will figure out a "safe" way for property access and trail use. As for getting to decades old cemetery access, Frank "We are accommodating.."
Jorgensen had to repeat himself over and over. It was as if the landowners didn't want to listen. Instead, they had tension built up and they just wanted to be heard.
About 35 miles of ERTS was built without issue. That gravel covered trace is being used daily without problems. A maintenance man has been hired as has a State Park Superintendent. Soon a Park office and maintenance center will be built in Pisgah. The State has budgeted an additional $1.6M for the Park.
On the section from Hartland to Queen Shoals, there are places to narrow to accommodate a hiking trail and a separate vehicle access. That's the part that is of greatest concern for the home owners For those sections, Jorgensen has already said, those areas will have multi use roads. Frank, "Roads will stay where they are."
As for all the access promises made by Frank after the State Park service takes over.... Frank: that won't happen until all the issues are fixed.
For the attendees that said: This is all a smoke screen... We are Americans...You're taking a home to ride a bike!!!!!!!!!! and Something smells here! You have every right to think like that BUT it's not backed up by any Elk River RR actions ... so far.
County Clay is already benefiting from ERTS. New jobs have come our way as have new businesses. If ERTS gets open from Gilmer Station down below Clendenin, those new dollars will make a real difference to our economy.
Malcolm Forbes once said: When you don't understand, it's sometimes easier to look like you do.
aw
PS Charleston GAzette Mail newspaper has much more complete look at the meetings. Keep in mind, to read any of their articles, you have to sign in with a user name and password. Here's the link to that informative article.