The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors pledged Wednesday to work with the city of Columbus to help residents affected by a road abandonment.
Residents of Co-op Road appealed to supervisors to undo their Oct. 31 vote to abandon the thoroughfare on which 35 residents live. The road is partly within Columbus city limits.
Dennis Gartman presented a petition opposing the road abandonment. He said residents weren’t informed of the proposed abandonment in time to oppose it. The road has two access points, both of which are often blocked by rail cars.
Supervisors voted to abandon the road and let the Columbus and Greenville Railway use the space to expand its yards.
Co-op Road is northeast of Columbus off U.S. 82 and runs parallel to Military Road.
“So what you’re doing is blocking these people in,” Gartman said. He owns property along the road. “I feel like these people are backed into a corner.”
He said elderly people are afraid they cannot get out if they have health problems. The mail carrier sent a letter saying delivery is late when rail cars are blocking the road, he added, providing the letter to be read aloud.
Gartman conceded the abandonment process was legal but argued residents should have been personally notified instead of just running the legal notice in the newspaper.
District 2 Supervisor Frank Ferguson took the blame. He said he talked to one person who lives on the road.
“I made an error, and it was my error,” he said.
He suggested the C&G reopen the road for 30 days to give the city and county time to upgrade Bethel Road, which is one access point into Co-op Road
County Attorney Tim Hudson said Gartman’s differences now lie with the railroad company. When the county abandoned the road, the land reverted to the original owners.
Board President and District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders said the only options were to ask the C&G and the Burlington, Northern and Santa Fe to sell back the road or initiate eminent domain. The county could work to upgrade Bethel Road and work with residents to make sure it is not blocked more than 20 minutes at a time, per the law.
Supervisors Leroy Brooks of District 5 and Jeff Smith of District 4 said the county should do what it can to help residents.
Smith said supervisors followed the law, but he shares residents’ concerns about welfare and safety. “I want to do what’s right,” he said.
Roger Bell, vice president of business development and former CEO of the C&G, said Co-op Road is where four rail companies do business. That is why his company sought the track extension.
Adding track will reduce switching, and construction of a track angle back to the BNSF crossing will reduce rail cars blocking the Bethel Road crossing, Bell said. The company is installing $2 million to $3 million of new track.
C&G Vice President and General Manager Giles Perry said work has begun on a 30- to 45-day contract to complete the track extension, which will stop the back and forth car movement at the Bethel Road crossing.
When asked whether the C&G would help pay expenses to upgrade Bethel Road, Perry said he would look at that.
Hal McClanahan also owns property on the road. An attorney, he said the county’s abandonment of its part of the road does not entitle the rail companies to close the road.
“They don’t have a right to interfere with our easement,” he said.
Smith and other supervisors asked county road officials to meet and report back to supervisors at their next regular meeting Monday.
“We’re just as interested in keeping cars off the crossings as anyone here,” Bell said.
Julie Gartman, Dennis Gartman’s wife, said residents live in 15 homes and a small recreational vehicle park along the road. Many of the residents are elderly, she said, added the road is impassable now that the rail company has put up barriers and torn up the roadway.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.