Railyard / suburban housing not good mix

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.