Residents pack into Boone County Board meeting to voice opposition to railroad

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By Adam Poulisse
Staff writer

Posted Mar. 16, 2016 at 10:43 PM
Updated at 10:47 PM

BELVIDERE — A couple hundred people packed the seats and lined the walls of tonight's Boone County Board meeting to show their disapproval of the proposed Great Lakes Basin Railroad.

Residents from Boone County and beyond attended the meeting and told County Board members the railroad will ruin agricultural resources and deplete property values. Some vowed to start a petition against the railroad, while others have started social media campaigns to gather a collective voice.

Sharon Charlesworth of Garden Prairie told the County Board during public comment she sees "no benefit," and it will disrupt medical and police services, school bus routes, commuter traffic and upset agricultural livelihood.

"It will disrupt everything," she told the Register Star afterward. "This is an agricultural community. Where we live, I'm told, this whole area is supposed to be preserved. It's not supposed to be developed. Yet they're going to run a railroad through it? I don't think so. That's wrong."

The railroad will abut the end of Charlesworth's field, she said.

"My house will shake every time (a train) goes by," she said. "It's wrong."

The railway, the nation's largest in a century, would cost $8 billion and span hundreds of miles. The plan, in its current form, would extend an existing railroad linking Milwaukee and Brodhead, Wisconsin, to a new line through Boone County — with a western spur at the Chicago Rockford International Airport — then south to Lee County and east to Indiana before ending north in Michigan City, Indiana.

The route would bypass Chicago and thus provide quicker transportation of goods from coast to coast. The project's backers say they'll finance the railroad privately. However, they'll have to acquire vast stretches of private land via eminent domain — the right of a government or its agent to take property at fair market value for public use.

Though hundreds attended the meeting, only a handful spoke. The crowd often erupted into applause in agreement with the speakers, something Chairman Bob Walberg tried to curb to maintain order.

"People in the community have such pride in our county and pride in their ownership of the county," Walberg said after the meeting. "Any of these people just came to purchase their property or the property came from descendants. Now, they have something they have absolutely no control over coming in and modifying it."

The proposed railroad skirts the southern tip of Winnebago County for its stop at the airport; a previous version that cut through the county was scrapped after backers determined an environmental impact study to assess the effects along the Sugar River in Winnebago and Rock counties would have delayed the project.

Teresa Lapp has lived in Stillman Valley in Winnebago County for 25 years. She said she only found out about the railroad Tuesday night through her neighbor. The railroad will run about 300 feet from her front door, she said.

- "There's a lot of community pride in our homes out there," she said. "It's a very well maintained area. The home value there is $300,000 and up. I really do think that this train is going right where there's toddlers 200 feet away. Everyone's very upset about it."

Lapp said she's meeting with a lawyer on Monday to finalize a petition that she will circulate throughout the community.

"We're looking to get as many signatures as we possibly can," she said.

Carl Zimmerman of LaSalle County attended tonight's board meeting. He created the Facebook group Stop Great Lakes Basin Transportation Proposed Rail Line, which has 378 likes and counting.

"I'm not the person to stand up and say something, usually, but I want to make sure people in our township, our county, were aware, including bordering counties this is affecting," he said.

Zimmerman has joined with BLOCKRICL, which works with landowners to fight for their rights against eminent domain.

Walberg said he sees both sides for and against the argument as both a Boone County landowner and county chairman. However, he said the County Board will likely not announce a position.

"That would just distract from the whole process," he said. "The board would not have one vision or voice. We have 12 members and you'd get 12 different visions."

Adam Poulisse: 815-987-1344; apoulisse@rrstar.com; @adampoulisse

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160316/residents-pack-into-boone-county-board-meeting-to-voice-opposition-to-railroad/?Start=2

 

Ms. Charlesworth’s public comments from the meeting:

The Rhubarb

6 hrs ·

Sharon Charlesworth from Garden Prairie, IL spoke during public comment at the Boone County Board meeting on March 16. Sharon has given The Rhubarb permission ...to post her questions she read at the meeting.

The Rhubarb wishes to thank Sharon Charlesworth.

"Did anyone ask the people of Boone County how they felt about a railroad track that divides the county from north to south?

According to the Great Lakes Basin website there are two main tracks with movement of up to 110 trains per day, at speeds of 70 mph. The railroad intersects all east-west roads in eastern Boone County.

The county will be divided due to the fact of the high number of freight trains traveling the tracks at speeds faster than automobile traffic.

The east-west roads are used by a large number of commuters every day. Their travel time will be lengthened to allow for the freight trains.

How long does it take for an average freight train to cross an intersection?

Due to the fact there will be up to 110 trains per day, how often will trains cross each intersection?

I know from experience freight trains can take an excessive amount of time to cross a road, and for people waiting this can be irritating. This could possibly lead to people trying to 'beat the train'.

How will these tracks effect Boone County?

Disruption of medical services, police services, and school bus routes.

Disruption of automobile commuter traffic.

Disruption of agricultural livelihood.

Some fields are divided by the tracks – loss of accessibility to property, loss of use of property. Boone County is an agricultural community. I have been told that there are areas that are designated not to be developed and yet – the train route goes through these areas.

What will be transported on these railroad cars?

I have heard that garbage from the southeast and chemicals from the north will be traveling on these tracks.

There is a line that travels into Winnebago County, near route 72. Will you be hauling garbage from Chicago and Indiana to the Winnebago Reclamation Services Landfill?

Won’t this effect the semis that haul the garbage? I believe that it takes five or six semis to fill a railroad car. Will the garbage be flying out all over Boone County?

There was an accident in Rockford where a train carrying chemicals derailed, killing people and damaging property. Do we want our children sitting at these crossings multiple times, on a daily basis?

Remember a possible 110 trains per day!

What are the benefits for Boone County?

Will there be new jobs? Highly unlikely, the Great Lakes Basin Railroad will bring the people they need with them.

Please are there any benefits? I see none."

Charlesworth statement from The Rhubarb Facebook;  https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=196338750738718&id=193626421009951&fref=nf