WESTOVER — The city of Westover’s desire to acquire Long Street is going to require patience, or a lawsuit.
During Monday’s Westover City Council meeting, City Attorney Tim Stranko read from a letter provided by Norfolk Southern indicating it will likely take eight to 12 months for the company to respond to the city’s right-of-way request.
City council was approached in March with a request to incorporate Long Street into its road network as a way to ensure access to the old Cyphert Industries properties being redeveloped along the riverfront, just across the Westover Bridge.
Complicating matters is the fact that half of Long Street is owned by the railroad. It was previously indicated the railroad company in question is CSX. It is actually Norfolk Southern.
Stranko reached out to Norfolk Southern to ask that the land be donated to the city. The company said it could take railroad officials a year to answer.
While there was previously some question as to whether the city could condemn railroad property through eminent domain, Stranko said he believes that option is on the table.
“My conclusion is that if this half of the roadway is not essential for railroad operations, it can be subject to eminent domain action by the city,” Stranko said, adding, “So it is an option if you choose to exercise eminent domain as opposed to waiting eight-12 months for an answer.”
Also on Monday, council received an update from Thrasher Engineering’s Doug Smith, who explained the preliminary engineering report for the city’s Holland Avenue project is underway.
He said the report will lay out the scope of the project as well as preliminary options and recommendations for funding.
City officials have said Westover will allocate all of its $1.74 million in American Rescue Plan money for the work, which was previously estimated at $2.6 million.
The engineering report will also update that cost estimate.
“That original estimate was prepared six, eight months ago, something like that. I can tell you that estimated numbers have gone up significantly since that time, not just in this project but in every project I’ve seen across the state,” Smith said.
As the project will address needed sanitary sewer and stormwater improvements below the street, as well as improvements to the street’s surface, rate increases for sewer and stormwater customers of the Westover Sanitary Sewer Board are one of the potential funding options.
“I would like to keep our head toward something that doesn’t put a burden on our rate payers if we can go the other route,” Mayor Dave Johnson said. “We’ve done a pretty good job the last nearly 14 years, and we’ve only had to use one rate increase in all that time. The people are a little bit spoiled whether they know it or not, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
In other news, council passed on first reading amendments to the city’s land use code that would permit a crematory to be located on site within the city’s funeral homes with conditional use approval from the board of zoning appeals.
Lastly, Public Works Director Jason Stinespring said construction of Texas Roadhouse’s new location off I-79 Exit 153, in WestRidge Commons, will begin soon. The restaurant will eventually move out of its current Monongahela Boulevard location.
