Downtown Commission members suggest city pursue legal action against Union Pacific Railroad

Members of the Downtown Commission showed support for the city possibly using legal action including eminent domain against Union Pacific Railroad to acquire property eyed for improvements near the Seaholm District.

This month’s meeting included a presentation on the improvements identified as highest priorities for the area using roughly $12 million in money remaining from a tax increment reinvestment zone that the city closed at the end of last year. First created in 2008, the primary intent of the TIRZ was to fund an underpass at Third and Bowie streets using property owned by the railroad.

Those plans were abandoned in 2021 after years of unsuccessful talks between the two sides, though a trestle bridge on Third Street that is owned by Union Pacific but not connected to any of its other property in the area is the issue of most concern.

The early plans assembled by the Transportation and Public Works Department call for widening the bridge and studying the possibility of creating a public plaza around the bridge.

Other improvements identified for the area include removing sharp turns and blind curves on the Shoal Creek underpass at Third Street, making a variety of safety improvements at the intersection of Third Street and West Avenue, making the south sidewalk on Cesar Chavez Street more accessible from B.R. Reynolds Drive to San Antonio Street and adding safety signage to trail crossings at West Avenue and Walter Seaholm Drive.

Laura Dierenfield, division manager for the Transportation and Public Works Department, said the five projects were identified after “it was just clear that there was not really a there there with Union Pacific.”

The Cypress and Shoal Creek Public Space Strategy was one of the plans that helped inform decision-making on how best to improve the district using available funds.

Commissioner Kimberly Levinson first suggested the city’s use of aggressive legal tactics to acquire the trestle bridge property from Union Pacific. Dierenfield was careful to not commit to any actions that would fall outside the scope of her office.

“Being that these are a set of projects that have very complementary goals to the overall mobility needs of the city, albeit very difficult prioritization … we need to do what we can to get the work done as we try to address all of the city’s needs,” she said.

Commissioner Spencer Schumacher took a more direct tone on the city’s need to acquire the property as quickly as possible.

“We often have issues of getting shy about acquiring right of way or eminent domain and anything else when it comes to bike and pedestrian infrastructure,” he said. “We acquire right of way through a variety of means for every other form of infrastructure. This is a key connection point for our bike pedestrian grid, so that should be a priority to do here when it comes to some of the Union Pacific stuff.”

When discussing the projected costs for the assorted projects, Commissioner Jen Weaver suggested looking at grant money from sources such as Rails to Trails that could be applicable because of the Union Pacific tie-in.

Dierenfield said those sources of money as well as potential federal dollars for infrastructure projects can come with a variety of other obligations and timelines that make them difficult to manage.

“Those can be a bit of a mixed bag in terms of delay in costs that are hidden in those efforts when maybe (the costs) are not worth that fight, whereas other larger unfunded projects are a better fit.”

This photo was made available under a Creative Commons license.

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Posted In: Planning, District 9