The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors asked residents of Co-op Road on Monday for more time to explore options following the abandonment of part of the road.
Property owners insisted that is one thing they don’t have.
Owners appeared at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting to protest the abandonment of the road that is being used for a track extension by the Columbus and Greenville Railway. Co-op Road is partly in the city of Columbus and partly in Lowndes County and is off Military Road.
Residents said abandoning the road presents health and safety issues for the 35 people who live on it. They said mail delivery and emergency vehicle access, along with their own access, to the homes is negatively affected.
Attorney Hal McClanahan is an affected property owner. He contested the board’s legal authority to abandon the road.
The board had four legal causes of action to abandon the road when it voted Oct. 31 to do so, he said. The board used the option that the road does not provide primary access to occupied premises, but that’s exactly what it does for residents on the east side of the tracks.
“What we’re asking here simply is that the board reverse its decision,” McClanahan concluded.
Giles Perry, general manager for the C&G, said work has begun on a three-phase project to extend tracks and improve safety. The $2 million to $3 million project will alleviate blocked crossings and improve congestion in the switching yard. “The capacity that we’re going to gain from the extension is crucial.”
He presented sketches showing the company will add tracks in the space between the two existing main lines. The railroad owns Co-op from its crossing down to near where the Bethel crossing is.
A site visit showed that’s why the Co-op crossing needs to be abandoned. The area will be filled with dirt before tracks are built.
C&G Marketing Director Peter Valade said the abandonment affects only the C&G. The road is not closed.
Monthly rail traffic along those tracks is 4,300 cars, Valade said. Half of that is the loads coming in, and half is the empty cars going out. Eight to 10 customers use the tracks.
Severstal is expanding its facility, which will increase traffic, he said. Steel Dust Recycling is another major client. The expansion “allows us to switch cars, handle cars, safely handle cars.”
“I’m 100 percent confident that when this project is done, the issue of blockings will be over,” Perry said. He asked supervisors to let their decision stand.
Board President and District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders said the C&G is the only affected property owner. The supervisors did not close the road; they only abandoned the Co-op crossing — the space between the tracks — at the railroad’s request.
McClanahan responded the railroad has taken a public road and primary access to property. “Gentlemen, this dog just doesn’t hunt,” he said referring to the idea only one owner is affected.
“No one is cutting anyone off from their land,” Perry said. He pledged money from the railroad to widen the Bethel Road crossing and said the company will immediately begin work on it. “We’re going forward with this project,” he said of the rail yard expansion.
Property owner Dennis Gartman spoke on behalf of residents at last week’s meeting. He appeared again Monday.
Sanders asked what it would take to satisfy him on the matter.
Gartman had not completed his answer when the board ended discussion and voted to take McClanahan’s and Gartman’s suggestions to repeal their Oct. 31 vote under advisement.
Outside the meeting room, Gartman said he would be satisfied if Bethel Road is brought up to highway standards, which is 24 feet of asphalt within a 40-foot easement, and installation of a signal light. Meanwhile, Co-op Road must remain open till then. Further, this must be done before the railroad starts construction on the expansion.
Sanders said after the meeting that upgrading the county part of Bethel would cost $7,700. He added that 90 percent of residents on Co-op use Bethel to get to their properties
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