(The following story by Bernard Harris appeared on the Lancaster New Era website on June 20.)
LANCASTER, Pa. — Experts told residents of the School Lane Hills and Barrcrest neighborhoods Thursday night that they would not be able to hear the trains at the proposed site of a relocated Dillerville rail yard.
They would not be able to feel the vibration. And there would not be any adverse health effects from the locomotives’ diesel exhaust.
And along with dismissing any adverse impacts, they extolled the benefits of the $40 million to $42 million project for the local economy, alleviating truck traffic on local roads and improved air quality.
But they likely won few converts at the public meeting at Franklin & Marshall College’s Alumni Sports & Fitness Center. About 235 people attended the information session.
Residents closest to the 12-acre site behind the Lancaster post office, off Harrisburg Pike, questioned the findings and the assumptions the studies were based upon.
“My question to John Fry is: What if you’re wrong?” said Farmingdale Road resident Mark Whallon after the meeting.
Whallon is a member of The Rail Road Action and Advisory Committee, or TRRAAC, a group that sprung up to oppose the project. They fear a decrease in the value of their homes and loss of their quality of life from the relocated rail yard.
Several TRRAAC members called on Fry, the F&M College president, to put his assurances into a legally binding document and back it with funds in escrow that could be used to rectify future problems.
“The best engineer with the best laid plans sometimes design things that don’t come out as they were intended,” commented Kathy Ashworth, also a TRRAAC member and Farmingdale Road resident.
If freight rail giant Norfolk Southern makes later changes in switching yard operations, then the assumptions underlying the recent studies are invalid, Ashworth said.
Fry didn’t outright reject the call for an agreement and escrow funds, but he did question the details and the amount needed.
Speaking for the railroad, Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband did reject any kind of binding operating agreement for the planned yard. The company operates many yards in 22 states and has no such agreement and would not set a precedent here, Husband said.
Norfolk Southern would be willing to meet with residents and discuss their concerns now and in the future, he said.
And Fry sought to reassure the residents. Beyond the $6 million it is investing in the project, the college will be the closest property owner to the proposed rail yard. It owns about 100 acres, now used as athletic fields and woodland, in areas called the Baker Campus and the Brickyard.
The college will take responsibility for the long-term use of the site and “you know where we live,” Fry commented.
“We don’t intend to do this and not do it right, because not only will the neighbors suffer, but the institutions will suffer,” said Fry, referring to the three partners proposing the relocation: the college, Lancaster General Hospital and Norfolk Southern.
TRRAAC has proposed an alternative plan that would allow the rail yard to expand to the east, away from their homes. That expansion would occur on land the college has proposed for future athletic fields.
Keith Orris, a college vice president, said that location had previously been considered and rejected. That site is hampered by the Dillerville Road bridge, which spans only six tracks. The yard needs 14 tracks to be operationally efficient, he said.
Ultimately, the issue may be one of trust.
Speaking during the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, Whallon asked why sound walls that were proposed earlier are now not part of the plan.
He also questioned the references to removing 55,000 trucks from local roads. Before, he said, the college was speaking of actual trucks. Now, F&M representatives refer to diverting potential truck deliveries.
“In light of this miscommunication or misrepresentations, why should we trust anything that F&M is telling us?” Whallon asked.
After the meeting, Fry sounded positive. Many people left with the answers they were seeking and the meeting remained civil, he said.
But, he acknowledged, “I think there are people that came in skeptical and remained skeptical — but that’s not because we didn’t try.”
The plans will continue moving forward, Fry said.
Consultants will apply for environmental clearances within a few weeks and construction could occur as soon as the funding is secured.
Along with the $6 million committed to the project by the college, the hospital is also contributing $6 million and Norfolk Southern is contributing $2 million. The remainders would come from state and federal grant programs established for environmental remediation and economic development, said Orris.