Posted on 07/23/2008 11:39:23 AM PDT by mainestategop
JONESBORO, Maine - When John Cox heard about plans to turn 87 miles of inactive rail bed in Washington and Hancock counties into public trails, he hoped someone would start a petition against it.
(Excerpt) Read more at bangornews.com ...
This has been happening all over the country for what seems like a decade.
In Indianapolis and the surrounding “donut” counties, they’ve been digging up the old Monom Line and turning it into the “Monon Trail” for walking, running and biking.
Problem is, they extended it outside the city (Marion County) and north into the more affluent cities. Homeonwers who expected the abandoned rail lines to revert to them under eminent domain were now seeing paved paths between their yards.
Some homeowners began piling trash, furniture (bedsprings, etc.) across the trails.
Really, nobody wants the state pumping strangers through their backyards.
The way I’m reading it, the rail line is unusable for trains in its current condition. If they remove the old rails and cross ties and let people use it for a while, so what? At least this way the grade and right of way will be maintained. If they need it, they can always put it back with up-to-spec rails and ties.
I think all this “public trail” nonsense has gone too far, but if I lived next to one I would be grateful there weren’t trains rumbling by at all hours.
Sucks to be them. Why are they piling trash on land that doesn’t belong to them?
Nope.
In many areas, they’re PAVING over the old lines.
That property should have reverted to the adjacent landowners as soon as the nature of the easment was changed.
Building rail lines using eminent domain is OK.
Confiscating property for walking paths is not.
Because, under the law, the land belonged to them as soon as the easment was abandoned by the rail lines.
The city and counties sued and re-took the land for other purposes.
Well you may be right about that. If you Google some images of the railroad like I did it does not look good. Some of the tracks are submerged in swamps, there was this wooden bridge that had a big gap in the middle, some of the rails I heard were even torn off and sold for scrap. But if they do rebuild it it might help ailing industry in Hancock and Washington county.
I gotta disagree with many here. Most of these rail beds are ROW for the railroad. So, chances are it’s not your property anyway.
Would you rather have a screaming train running through your backyard or an occasional hiker/biker/walker. Keep in mind this is northern Maine and will probably have about 10 people use it a year. Trails like this also add value to your property in places like this — they are marketed as “direct access to so and so trail”
From my experience this guy is an exception, most people in New England normally don’t mind others using the back of their property for hunting, etc with permission
Idiots. So an area long-designated for a heavy industrial usage is being converted to a pedestrian/bicycle trail - and there's someone out there who will PROTEST this? Imagine what would happen if the county built a new train line through Yuppieville instead.
Once the easement is abandoned, trains aren’t going to go running throug there.
That doesn’t give the state the tacit right to infringe upon the legitemate and legal rights of the adjacent propertyholders.
The lack of an active train line has nothing to do with an illegally repurposed easement. It should have reverted back to the landowners, period. The state doesn’t have the right to build anything new (trails, nuclear waste dumps, etc.) unless the land is taken or the ROW (easement) reestablished.
I wonder why the homeowners have not filed adverse possession claims?
Again, the easement was ABANDONED.
Legally, the land was to have reverted to the landowners.
If the rail line wanted to build a new line, they’d have to restart the ROW process again.
As far as the easment was concerned, it was no longer designated for “heavy industrial usage”.
Wait until somebody takes your property and then we’ll see how great the idea is.
I would sign on to build the trail.
Around here in Michigan, the land was purchased from the railroads for a hefty sum. At least this railroad subsidy was not wasted on Amtrack and we have something of value to show for our money.
Was the land re-purchase by the adjacent landowners?
An overwhelming majority of folks on the trails are nice people. There is nothing to fear.
An overwhelming majority of folks on the trails are nice people. There is nothing to fear.
I’ll bet they has, too!
No the local towns bought the land and actually worked together to make a series of parks. It was a long time in the making, fighting the nay sayers, but it is really a nice park system.
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