Meeting set on rail-line dispute

Roxbury objecting to $6M restoration

By MICHAEL DAIGLE • STAFF WRITER • June 25, 2009

Officials from Morris County, Roxbury and Randolph will meet Monday in an attempt to resolve issues surrounding a $6 million railroad restoration project that has faced harsh local objections.

In March, the county announced a plan to rebuild four miles of an active but little-used rail freight line on the county-owned Chester Branch right-of-way from Wharton to Roxbury, using federal stimulus funds.

The plan received state and federal approval, but Roxbury officials have raised several objections. They sent letters about it earlier this month to federal and state officials, including Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

The key objections are the potential impact of the railroad operations on Horseshoe Lake, a popular Roxbury recreation facility; safety of bikers and hikers on a township-owned bike path that runs at one point within 3 feet of the rail line; and the lack of any fiscal benefit to Roxbury.

Roxbury officials claimed in the June 11 letters that the prime beneficiary of the rebuilt line would be Holland Manufacturing, which owns the former Westinghouse site in Randolph, where the rail line terminates. The line was built to serve the former elevator manufacturing site.

The county has replied that Roxbury's depiction of the rail line as dormant is incorrect, since that is a designation that can only be made by federal officials. It also says Roxbury's bike path encroaches on the railroad right-of-way. The county also said that Roxbury made no objections to the use of the line by Kuiken Bros., a lumber company, when that firm applied in 2007 to the township to take over vacant buildings on Route 10 and included a request for use of the rail siding.

County Freeholder Gene Feyl, in a June 12 letter to Roxbury, said the township was aware in 2008 of the county's plan to repair the rail line in the existing rail bed.

The township has proposed that the rail line be shifted away from the bike path, but the county said that would make the project ineligible for the federal stimulus funds since it would no longer be "shovel-ready."

Safety steps offered

Roxbury's letters, signed by Administrator Christopher Raths, cites the line as a safety hazard to users of the bike lane. It says that while surrounding communities may gain more ratables to offset taxes, Roxbury won't see any such benefit. Roxbury also says the line would negatively impact the aesthetics at Horseshoe Lake Park, and the economic viability of Horseshoe Lake.

What's more, Roxbury says because the types of materials carried over railroad lines are federally regulated, Roxbury and the county won't have any authority to keep volatile chemicals from traveling within a few feet of a recreational facility.

In another letter, the county states it would work to improve safety around the lake and would not extend the line beyond its current terminus. It also says the county would help Roxbury establish a separate bike and walking path. Hours of operation would be regulated, and no rail cars would be parked along the disputed stretch of the rail line, the county says in the letter.

The county further says it would sell a portion of the rail line in the Horseshoe Lake area to Roxbury.

The documents realted to the dispute are posted at http://www.morrisdot.org/rail/rail-chesterbranch.asp.

Michael Daigle: 973-267-7947 or at mdaigle@...

Note:  A few weeks ago this project made the list of more than 100 stimulus projects that could be considered to be "pure pork" and a waste of the taxpayer's money on Sean Hannity's Fox News Channel tv program.  He noted that this project would have a very negative impatct on a monument to veterans at this park.