Lewis officials propose to buy rail lines with state grant

LOWVILLE — Lewis County officials are proposing to use state grant funding to buy rail lines connecting Lowville with Croghan and West Carthage, with an eye toward development as recreational trails and a scenic railroad.

“We’re not dipping into local taxpayers’ dollars,” said Legislature Chairman Jack T. Bush, R-Brantingham. “We’re going to do what we can afford to do. It’s not going to be done all at once.”

While the proposed purchase would include tracks and buildings within the village, Mr. Bush said there are no plans to revive a controversial pedestrian trail project here.

“As far as we’re concerned, that trail is going to end at Bostwick Street,” he said. “We’re certainly not going to jam anything down their throat that they don’t want.”

Legislators at their 5 p.m. meeting today are slated to discuss the purchase of the 10-mile Lowville and Beaver River Railroad line between Croghan and Lowville from the Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad Corp. for $425,000. The corporation, a subsidiary of Genesee Valley Transportation, Batavia, would then grant the county the 17-mile Lowville Industrial Track from Lowville to West Carthage for $1.

The company would remove rail lines from the donated spur, allowing it to recoup some money from scrap metal, but ties would be left in the ground to help avoid erosion, Mr. Bush said. The Lowville-to-Croghan spur would remain intact to potentially allow the Railway Historical Society of Northern New York to operate a scenic railroad from its depot in Croghan, with a trail possibly developed alongside the tracks, he said.

County officials intend to use a $450,000 state Environmental Protection Fund grant, awarded in 2010, to buy the rail lines and cover legal fees and other ancillary costs.

Acquisition of the lines would be contingent on county costs not exceeding $450,000 and federal Surface Transportation Board approval of the Lowville to West Carthage plan, including permission for “rail banking” if the need for an operating railroad ever arose again.

The state grant requires a 25 percent local match, but county officials expect in-kind services and the value of the donated tracks to easily cover that. A pair of independent appraisals are to be conducted before the sale is completed.

Even with legislative approval, it will likely take at least three to four months for the county to take title to the railroad properties, Mr. Bush said. Trail development work could then progress as time and funding is available, he said.

The plan is to utilize all-terrain vehicle permit fees to avoid any direct cost to county taxpayers, Mr. Bush said.

The idea of buying the two unused rail lines for conversion into motorized and non-motorized trails initially was proposed in 2007 by the Black River-St. Lawrence Resource Conservation and Development Council.

While that plan never materialized, county officials in 2010 floated a larger project that was to be funded partly through a $1.1 million federal grant procured by the village to develop a walking and biking trail.

After village trustees decided not to proceed with the project over cost overrun concerns, legislators discussed developing that trail in conjunction with multiuse trails on the two rail lines outside the village. However, they ultimately voted 6-4 against it, with opponents citing the lack of village support, uncertainty about who would maintain the village trail and lack of assurance that no county taxpayer money would be needed. The federal grant has since expired.

The company in 2011 paid about $2,800 to local municipalities on its Lewis County holdings based on a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, which runs out next year.

Carthage-area municipalities are currently at odds with the railroad company over nearly $100,000 reportedly owed to them following the 2006 expiration of a PILOT agreement governing a rail line there.