Homeowners who live in the Northwest Revitalization District, such as myself, have been told that our property values will increase with the relocation of the Norfolk-Southern Rail yard from F&M’s North Campus into a suburban residential area called Barrcrest.
When the news first broke about these plans, I drove into the Barrcrest neighborhood to see first-hand why the rail yard relocation was opposed by many homeowners. When I saw the well-kept homes in the $500,000 market range, I could not believe that an institution like F&M that purports to be “a good neighbor” and a benefit to the community, would even consider putting a rail yard, one that may have as many as 16 tracks, into this nice residential area.
A similar idea from a Talkback correspondent, who said that he would not personally be affected by the Rail yard Relocation, recently posted the following comment on Lancaster Online: “Because of our location, it is six of one and half dozen of the other as to distance from us. But a rail yard the size of this one does not belong at this location. Norfolk Southern had no plans whatsoever for a rail yard here. This was an F&M proposal to free up their own backyard. LGH is going along for the ride with their partner on the Armstrong land deal, and Norfolk -Southern said, “What do we get out of it?” when John Fry wanted the tracks removed from behind College Row. That is evidenced by how little Norfolk-Southern is contributing to the project.”
After reading this, I checked to see just how little Norfolk-Southern is paying. Out of the total $42 million dollar cost, Norfolk-Southern is paying only $2 million. F&M, who will gain the most land from the deal, is paying $6 million. LGH is matching F&M with $6 million of its own money. Taxpayers will foot the remainder of the bill, a cool sum amounting to $28 million. They will pay this even though they have had absolutely no say in the project.
But the principal reason to oppose relocating the rail yard to Barrcrest is the location. A rail yard and an upscale residential neighborhood are not a good mix.
