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FAIRMONT - A potential trail project that would extend between Alpha, Jackson, Sherburn, Welcome and Fairmont was brought up for the first time at Monday's Martin County Economic Development Authority (EDA) meeting.
The spark for this project comes from a MnDOT grant Alpha has received to do a Rails to Trails program. This would mean taking partially abandoned or little-used railroads and transforming them into trails that can be used for walking, biking and snowmobiling. The corridor that would be used is part of the former Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern (DM&E) railroad, which is now under the parent company Canadian Pacific Railway (CP).
An action plan is currently being pursued to identify short-, mid-,and long-term recommendations and specific implementation steps for project advancement, as well as exploring further funding possibilities, in ways as to minimize the cost to local budgets and taxpayers.
Board Member Richard Koons immediately cast doubt on this plan making it all the way to Fairmont, stating it would probably only get to County 26 on the west side of Welcome. CEDA Specialist Amber Patten asked him to elaborate.
"That south line in Welcome is still used for backing up and bringing in rail cars for Valero," Koons said. "The only reason that CP is considering anything is because if they go with the county aspect, they don’t have to abandon it. It’s not going to be abandoned; it’s going to be leased. There’s literally zero possibility that it’s going to get Fairmont because it’s still part of the functioning railroad."
Board Member Billeye Rabbe asked who has been part of the discussions, and if the community has been. Patten said there has not been anything as of yet. Koons said similar projects have been discussed before, including one from Ormsby to Sherburn that did not pan out. He said they found the easiest, cheapest way to have a trail is to use old rail lines.
"Problem is rail lines don’t abandon them anymore because once they’re abandoned, they’ll never get them back," Koons said. "It’s not the same laws that it was in 1850."
Looking for more clarification, Interim Board Chairman Tim Terfehr asked for more details on what Rails to Trails does.
"You take the rails out and then pave it," Koons said. "There also has to be parking, and it has to be handicapped accessible and whatnot. A trailhead. How often you have to have them, I don’t know."
Koons asked Patten if there would be any action on this. Patten confirmed it was purely informational, and no actions would be taken.
Regarding particulars, Terfehr asked if the involved parties would have to fund taking the rails out. Koons said normally the rail lines take at least the rails off because it is scrap metal.
"I know that rail from Sherburn to up north," he said. "A lot of them, they just took the rail, left the ties."
"I know the Sioux line trail that people snowmobile or four wheel on up by Brainerd," Terfehr added. "There’s all kinds of nails and all that that get stuck in people’s tires."
No further action was taken on this item.
In other news:
-- The City of Northrop is officially moving forward with creating their own Housing and Redevelopment Authority.
-- A grant request submitted by EDA staff for the Empowering Small Minnesota Communities Program grant has reached the final round of requests being considered. Award announcements were meant to be made July 31, but staff received an email that the grant requests are still being reviewed at the time of the MCEDA meeting.
-- In the same vein as their business visits, MCEDA has started conducting one-on-one visits with child care providers throughout Martin County. These visits cover the identification of industry trends, understanding of challenges and needs, gathering of ideas from providers and development of strategies to strengthen and grow the local child care industry.