Meeting(s) Update: Village Council and Swanton Township

With my work schedule, I am not able to attend any Monday night meetings.  However, one of our township residents was at both meetings of Village Council and Swanton Township this past week (as she usually is!), so allow me to share her Facebook post of those two meetings:

10/25 Township Meeting

Share/Spread the word.

If I had a few words to describe last night they would be.... family therapy. There was some yelling, and tears, and I think everyone left having a little more hope in each other... so now we just have to see it in action.

The township and council meetings are wildly different meetings, and if you can, I highly recommend you attend both.

Last night was no different, and village residents present were just as upset over the previous night's council meeting as they were before. And rightfully so, that council meeting was rough.

As a result, those that spoke were visibly emotional, as were the township residents. It was really hard to hear so many homeowners brought to tears over this, as it's effects will be devastating to them and the lives and homes they've spent decades building. It was a very sad thing to sit through and everyone appreciated their stories and concerns.

And that includes the two council members who did (and have routinely in the past) attend the township meeting.

I am trying not to be too candid here over respect for the legalities both the township and village face.

So in short, they both vehemently oppose this project. Yes they own the missteps. They own the misinformation. They own not acting as quickly as they should have, and they gave much needed insight as to where they are now, and were open about where they needed to be. It was such a form of respect to everyone who was scared and who had spoken and received silence the night before.

Also in attendance was a rail road expert, someone who not only has first hand knowledge of this exact project, but also of all surrounding projects. (And that is all I can say about him in this forum.)

He was honest, answered questions thoroughly, and was also VERY AGAINST this project. Here are some important take-aways from his talk.

1. Pollution will be wide spread, and the rail road will do nothing about it. From thousands of gallons to spilled fuel, to coal and other remnants. The environmental impact will be real and scary.

2. Homeless People. With this rail yard will come homeless people who rely on the rail road for travel. There will be an uptick of that in our town with this rail yard, and no security will be given from NS regarding that.

3. Our town will be filthy. Coal dust aside, rail yards generate a huge amount of litter, and that will be visibly present in our village.

4. RODENTS. The rodent infestation will explode with sitting freight, especially next to the fields and the cars that will be holding grain. He talked about rodents in North Baltimore the size of cats but then I plugged my ears.

5. This coal yard will not be all this is, as I mentioned in another post, THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING. This is merely a foot in the door to expand this project rapidly and we would have no way of stopping it.

6. This DET contract is only a 3 year contract, and it's due to start January 1st, 2017.

7. This will change the very feel, look, and population of our town. It will diminish our property values AND our school. With both of those things cheaper, the landscape of who buys here will be different.

8. Many of the towns he visits feature rail yards that are surrounded by vacant/foreclosed homes.

9. It's not IF a derailment happens, it's WHEN, and he went into detail about what that would look like. He talked about how the priority would be to clear the tracks, and he told of one of his recent derailments that saw spilled coal being left for 6 months before anyone bothered to clean it up.

Oh, and the most important thing.

10. WE CAN AND SHOULD FIGHT THIS. We need to dig in our heels, work together, and fight fight fight fight.

Hearing the gentleman speak, while terrifying, was also JUST what so many needed, I think. They needed to hear the reality of this from someone who knew.

And when he was done and we all processed everything he said, we got up really driven to defeat this.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

First, I need you to REALLY make phone calls. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and we need you all EXTRA SQUEAKY.

It's an election year, and you need to remind your representatives that if they want your vote, then they need to help you get this out of our community.

1. Sen. Randy Gardener (614) 466-8060

2. Rep. Derek Merrin (614) 466-1731

Call them, have your relatives call them, and then call them again. This is your focus for the week.

Second, keep in contact with your elected officials. Information from them shouldn't just come at village or township meetings, we don't have time for that anymore. Call them regularly, make sure they are working FOR you and making this issue their priority. It's what you elected them to do, so be proactive in making sure they're doing it.

Village contacts: http://www.villageofswantonohio.us/villagecouncil.html

Of Actions and Consequences

I'll bet your mama taught you to be careful with what you said and what you did.  I'll bet she tried to raise you to understand that your words and actions have consequences - either good, or bad.  There is no "neutral zone", and I'll just bet she tried her darndest to teach you, and repeated it when you were growing up each time you made a poor choice of words or actions, and had to pay the price.  I'm sure she was sad to see you have to go through a rough time - or maybe she said, "well - you only have yourself to blame".  It's a life lesson that most of us have a tough time learning. 

Some folks lately have been upset with what they perceive as a "nasty tone" against the property owners who gave options to buy their land to Norfolk Southern.  And on the Facebook page, some pretty strong words have been said.  

Let's remember:  we live in America, where property owners are able to do whatever they want with their land (within zoning parameters, if any exist).  That is their right.  WHAT they decide to do will have consequences.  If those actions are good or pleasant, their neighbors will be happy - good consequences.  If those actions are unpleasant, their neighbors will be UNhappy - bad consequences.  That's pretty basic, right?  No rocket science here.

We're all adults here (I hope. . . . ).  Shall we speak frankly?  Most of the property owners in question have minimal contact with their surrounding community.  Their land, if ultimately used by NS, will affect few of their neighbors, mostly because they are in a much more rural area where people are fewer and farther between.

The largest property owner in this scenario is different.  Their land is right on the edge of the village.   The family has been a contributing part of the Swanton community for generations.  You couldn't talk about Swanton without mentioning this family.  They created jobs, they paid their taxes and were engaged in many civic activities.  They have been faithful supporters of the community in which they live and run their business.

My personal opinion is this is the reason people are so extremely upset with them.  The community was blind-sided by their decision to give options on their land to the railroad.  For long-standing, stalwart supporters of the Swanton community to do something that has no hope of bringing anything positive to that same community has been a shock.  

The community feels betrayed.  That has been the consequence of their actions.

  

It is certainly not pleasant.  Friendships have been strained - some broken.  Is the family surprised at the reaction they have received?  Did they expect something different?  

This past Monday evening, Village Council voted to stop the sale of the quarter acre of land they had advertised, and received resounding applause from those in attendance.  The next night, several Council members attended the Swanton Township trustee meeting.  They voiced their support for stopping the rail yard from being built in a residential area, and pledged to put the past behind us and work together with the township to unite the entire community. Everyone was pleased, and eager to move forward.

Then - just a couple of days later - Council held a meeting with Norfolk Southern and a "real estate lawyer".  According to the Village Administrator, the meeting had been scheduled awhile ago and Council decided to keep the meeting to see "what they had to say". Please note that this planned meeting was not mentioned at either public meeting early in the week.

The residents of Swanton were NOT happy once they found out - and just how do you think it looked to Swanton Township??  

This action by Council was not received well by anyone who is interested in fighting to keep the rail yard from being built.  The trust level was drastically undermined.

Consequences.  Consequences. . . 

WTOL Article and TV Broadcast

Here is a link to an article and TV broadcast by local television station, Channel 11 WTOL that was aired last night:

WTOL TV Broadcast and Article - click here

Meeting(s) Update

There were two important meetings early this week.  For those of you who were unable to attend, here is an update:

Village of Swanton

Monday evening, Village Council held their regular meeting with a standing-room only crowd.  Council members went into executive session, and upon their return to the meeting voted unanimously to withdraw the sale of village-owned land by the Hallett overpass. By this vote, Village Council was saying they were NOT going to sell any land to Norfolk Southern.  They received a huge round of applause for this action!  

Several people in attendance who had asked to be added to the agenda had their chance to speak, among them Linda Cannaley - who shared the negative effect the proposed rail yard is already having on real estate in the Swanton community.  Swanton Township officials, Jeff and Peggy Michael, spoke on the importance of everyone working together to fight the project.  Other township and village residents also spoke.

All who attended said this was a very good meeting with Village Council.

Swanton Township

The very next evening, Swanton Township held their regular meeting, after which they opened the floor for questions and discussion.  Several Village Council members were in attendance, as well as school board members.  Village and township residents were able to ask their questions and be heard.

Senator Randy Gardner was contacted. He indicated his plan to work with us to fight the project, and was scheduled to meet with Jeff Michael (and a Council member, if available) Wednesday morning to tour the area in order to understand the scope of our problem.  Another meeting will be scheduled with Senator Gardner in the near future.

While unverified, there was found a statement online that indicated Norfolk Southern has already won the coal contract from CSX, and will take it over at the first of next year.  If true, this would explain the perceived "rush" by NS to move the project along quickly.

Along with that information, Jeff Michael shared that he had obtained a copy of the NS site plan (some 300 pages) submitted to Lucas County, which includes the plan to close Scott Road - not leave it open with multiple tracks on the north side.  It is this question of closing Scott Road that must go before the PUCO before the project can continue and finish.

Other small communities have fought against the railroad and WON - communities with similar circumstances to ours, which gives us hope that we stand a good chance of winning this fight.  As was mentioned at the meeting Tuesday night, if we are able to get NS to abandon their plan before filing with PUCO, that would be great!  But  if not, we are still prepared with our case.  

With our entire community joined together, organized and prepared, with appropriate legal counsel, we are READY for whenever NS files with the PUCO !!

p.s.  If you are on Facebook, please go to our page, "Citizens Against Norfolk Southern" for other information and videos that you may share with any resident you know who is despairing that it is a "done deal" when it clearly is not!  Get the word out, friends!

Our Community Must Be United

If you have a Facebook account, you can go to the "Citizens Against Norfolk Southern" page and read many many posts written by your neighbors who are upset by this proposed rail yard.  If you have driven around lately, you've seen yard signs protesting the rail yard as well.  

These are ALL good things to do!  The more awareness we can bring to our community, the better armed we will be to fight this thing.  As the old saying goes, "Knowledge is power."

But sometimes "knowledge" differs from "fact".  That happens far too often - where someone "KNOWS" something, or was told by another who "should KNOW" that a certain thing is so, when in reality it is most decidedly NOT TRUE.  

No one is suggesting that our friends or neighbors are deliberately lying to us - but unfortunately, they are unwittingly passing on false information as fact, and this can have a huge negative impact on efforts to unite community members against this terrible proposal.

Let's examine just a few of these items together:

Property owners didn't have a choice - the railroad took their land by eminent domain

FALSE

While the use of eminent domain is one option that a railroad might consider, there is a lengthy process involved in that option.  It can take two full years before a claim under eminent domain might be adjudicated.   

Did Norfolk Southern threaten eminent domain when they met with individual property owners?  We don't know.  What we DO know is that eminent domain was NOT used by the railroad.  That is a FACT, and not an opinion.

In addition, currently the land is only leased.  It has NOT been sold.  No property has actually been purchased by the railroad.  This fact is easily verified by checking with the Lucas Co. Auditor's Office.

You can see the railroad working on the land every day, so obviously there's nothing we can do about it.

FALSE

As stated above, the land is only leased by NS at this point.  Should their planned rail yard project be thwarted, their requirement is to then return the land to its prior condition.

The fact that we can see work being done on the land is NOT an indication that the rail yard is a "done deal" and that we have no chance of stopping it. This perception is false.

My (friend/relative/etc) works for Norfolk Southern, and the employees were told this project is a done deal, and NS is going at this thing with "guns blazing" and nothing was going to stop them. 

PENDING

We have no doubt that NS is going full steam ahead in trying to make their proposed rail yard a reality . . . BUT  at the time they began this project and held those employee meetings months ago, they had no way of knowing how much anger would be generated against this project by members of the community.  They had no clue Swanton Township would hire attorneys familiar with the railroad to fight against them.  There was no way for the powers-that-be at Norfolk Southern to have any idea how big of a fight they would get from our people.  

The land owners who have given NS options to purchase their properties have not sold anything yet, and could stop the rail yard plan by ultimately refusing to sell.  To date, this has not happened.

A vital part of the project requires that Scott Road be closed at both sides of the tracks.  In order to close the road, NS must petition the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).  The PUCO is then required to hold a public hearing on the matter prior to making their decision.

So far, NS has not initiated a petition to close Scott Road with the PUCO.  But if or when they do:

THIS  is where we hope to stop them.  The hearing itself will most likely be held in our area, and interested parties will be allowed to address the Commission.  THIS is where we plead our case. THIS is why we need as many individuals and elected officials from the Village of Swanton and Swanton Township as possible to be ready to testify against the  project.

THIS is why it is so important for Village Council to not sell a small piece of land to the railroad, so that they can testify at the hearing about the terrible, negative effects this project will have on the village.  If they sell that piece of land, they lose all credibility with the PUCO.

THIS is why it is important for our School Board elected officials to step up in their official capacity to speak on how the project will affect our kids.  We're talking significant  safety issues here, folks!  

If you'll stop to consider for a moment, the greatest impact from the proposed rail yard will be felt in the village itself, even though the land needed is in Swanton Township.  It will become extremely difficult to cross the tracks at any crossing in town - Hallett Ave. will become a busy thoroughfare.  The tracks run right through the middle of the village - as trains are greatly slowed to accommodate the requirements of the yard, getting from one side of town to the other will be nearly impossible.  

We do have a chance to stop this thing - but we must stick together, and keep the pressure on the railroad to get outta Dodge.  Don't get confused, and don't get frustrated, thinking our hands are tied.

If all  of us continue to stand together, we can stand up to the railroad and save our community!

 TOGETHER WE CAN WIN !!

Yard Signs Available

Signs are available. $6.00 each and can be picked up at the Swanton Township Hall Monday through Friday between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm.

This Must Be a JOINT Effort

One clarification with regard to the possible sale of property to NS by the Village of Swanton. 

First off, that strip of land is not critical to NS. It would make things just a bit easier for them, but they are quite able to work around it should the sale not go through. The point of NOT selling the land is that we need the Village to stand up and testify to the PUCO (once NS files their request to close Scott Rd) against the project, as being highly detrimental to the health and safety of village residents. 

Obviously, if they sell land to NS they have no legitimate or valid platform from which to protest the project. It is VITAL that EVERY resident and entity in our community sticks TOGETHER in order to win this fight. 

That is the message we need to help Village Council understand.