Mendota Trail Land issues
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
The rail line acquired land in the 1800 and these deeds had a clause that said the land reverted if the rail line was not built. When the Trail was proposed some land owners attempted to interpret the deed wording to mean the land reverted if the RR was abandoned. A similar case went to the State Supreme Court and the original land owners lost. In the current case a district judge ruled in favor of the trail.
These legal rulings left the political and regulatory route to oppose the trail. At first the county government opposed the trail. But the trail being built with private funding took most of the teeth out of that obstacle. A building inspector that claimed jurisdiction over the trail was a particular problem. It was hoped that if enough requirements were heaped upon the first bridge that we would give up. Instead he got voted out, but the bridge cost twice what it could have.
Then we were hit with regulatory harassment. Many think the EPA, Corps of Engineers and OSHA are there to protect. We found these organizations can be weaponized to oppose the Trail. A hostile land owner has just to call and we are investigated for some infraction claimed by the caller. There have been dozens of calls and investigations. We were investigated because I sprayed a yellow jacket nest that was a source of stings to the bridge building crew, for example.
However, crying "wolf" too often generates a credibility gap. Now "investigations" usually result in just a phone call where we ensure we are not doing something that would be in violation of whatever. It gets tedious.
There was, however, one ruling that has caused problems. Without some sort of study we can not grade/smooth the trail. The study would cost $125,000. Apparently it matters not that we are just smoothing a RR bed.
As sections of the trail opened adjacent land owner opposition melted. As we sucked up to the politicians and featured them prominently at bridge dedications they became advocates. As far as we know there is no longer any overt opposition along sections of the trail that are in use. We now have adjacent land owners helping with maintenance. It has been noted that recent home listings claim proximity to the Tail as being a favorable factor and in one case someone bought a house and restored it to be on the Trail where they run. Both the State and the county have given us money this year, the first government support we have received.
The trail ends at the outskirts of Bristol, VA. The city of Bristol is working on a plan to extend the trail to a downtown park to be the southern trail head.