Commissioners ask CSX to transfer train station ownership

Jessica Farrish

FAYETTEVILLE — A Fayette County commissioner quipped Friday that, just maybe, a call to Jim Justice may be in order to solve a dilemma involving the historic train station in Prince.

Commissioners Matt Wender, John Lopez and Ken Eskew are asking CSX to transfer ownership of the station and its real estate to the county.

Justice on Thursday announced his plan to purchase The Greenbrier, owned by CSX, through the Justice Family Group.

Eskew said commissioners have been working on the project for “a long time.”

“Maybe we could get Mr. Justice to intervene for us,” Wender joked.

Wender explained that CSX has agreed to donate the Prince railroad passenger station, platform and canopy to the commission and provide a long-term lease for the land beneath the station and the short-term parking area.

The county planned to acquire ownership of the historic station before transferring the station and land to the National Park Service for preservation.

But a clause in the agreement states that CSX reserves the right to terminate the long-term lease if the train station is no longer being used as a railroad passenger station.

A second clause states that the commission would be required to remove the building from CSX property if the station is no longer being used as a railroad passenger station and being preserved and maintained as a historic landmark.

Those clauses prevent the National Park Service from obtaining grants to restore the historic train station that currently is active with Amtrak.

Federal law prevents NPS officials from signing any agreement which obligates budget expenditures in future years.

Wender said it is also unlikely that Fayette citizens would “ever stand by and allow, much less accept responsibility for, the destruction of such a significant landmark.”

Commissioners agreed to send a letter to CSX representative Lori Bergeron asking that CSX review the transfer of other CSX facilities such as the passenger station in Thurmond and find precedence for transferring ownership of the entire property to Fayette County.

In another action, the commission agreed to form a committee to interview potential candidates for a fulll-time, temporary grant-writing position with the county.

The grant writer will seek federal money that is available under the Obama administration stimulus package.

Sen. Bill Laird, D-Fayette, agreed to chair the committee, Other members will be Fayette Schools Superintendent Chris Perkins, Resources Coordinator Dave Pollard and Aletha Stolar.

The committee will post advertisements announcing the position and interview potential candidates and meet again at the June 12 commission meeting to report the progress to commissioners.

Carrie Clendening, grand coordinator and legislative liaison for Kanawha County Commission, suggested the position be created for at least one year, which is a single grant cycle.

Clendening, who attended the meeting at the request of commissioners, told commissioners the stimulus package didn’t create new programs she was aware of, but instead has added more money to existing programs where a 20 percent county match had to be available in order to get the funding.

“Now, you’re not required to meet that match,” she said. “They would fund it 100 percent.”

Eskew commended zoning officer Tim Richardson for developing a new portion of the county Unified Development Code.

The new portion helps developers anticipate areas where viewsheds will be concerned, such as the New River Gorge.

Developers may then take green space, buffering and screening requirements into consideration prior to defining their approval applications, Richardson said.

In another action, West Virginia University Extension Service agricultural agent Brian Parks recommended that Lopez, Eskew and Wender hire a tree trimming company to prune some old maple trees around the courthouse.

One maple tree will have to be cut down due to decay, Parks said.

— E-mail: jfarrish

@register-herald.com