WESTOVER — If Westover officials want to work on Long Street, they’re going to have to start working on the railroad.
The city was approached earlier this month with a request to incorporate Long Street into the city’s road network as a way to ensure access to the old Cyphert Industries buildings, located along the riverfront, just across the Westover Bridge.
That property is now owned by a group including March-Westin President Jamie Ridgeway.
The group has already made significant investment into the various structures on the property, which currently house BGSE Group (aerospace), Mon EMS, Al Xander Co. (hydraulic components) and include the future home of the Chestnut Brew Works, at 94 Long Street.
The problem, Ridgeway explained, is the only access to those properties is Long Street, half of which is owned by CSX Railroad.
Westover City Attorney Tim Stranko initially said acquiring the CSX property through eminent domain may be the easiest route. However, he has since said further analysis found federal law blocks the condemnation of property actively used by the railway system.
“The question becomes is Long Street part of that active rail system or not,” Stranko told council. “And who answers that question? The railroad company does.”
As for the street itself, Westover City Engineer Doug Smith said a ballpark estimate would be about $750,000 to bring the 1,900 feet of Long Street up to the city’s standards.
If those improvements were extended all the way to George Fanok Boulevard — essentially creating a bypass from the Westover Bridge to Granville — it would cost an additional $1.4 million.
Either way, CSX will have to sign off.
It was previously explained that having that larger bypass in place would be particularly useful given the city’s plans for a major roadway and utility project along Holland Avenue, Westover’s main thoroughfare.
The city and its project administrator, Region VI Planning and Development Council, are negotiating with Thrasher Engineering to design the Holland Avenue project.
While Mayor Dave Johnson said it would be convenient to have that bypass in place, or at the very least, more efficient and cost effective to do Holland and the larger Long Street project in tandem, the need for CSX’s approval introduces uncertainties, and Holland Avenue is the priority.
“I just don’t want to get to a point where we’re going to spin our wheels and hold up Holland Avenue … And then six months down the road or even a year down the road we find out we can’t go on with that [Long Street] project when, at the same time, we could have been proceeding with the Holland Avenue project,” Johnson said, adding of Long Street, “If the railroad says no, then we’re going to have to forget about the whole thing.”
Members of council directed Stranko to initiate talks with CSX and asked Smith to determine exactly who owns what along the riverfront access corridor.
