Trail Neighbors and Adjacent Landowners
If you live adjacent to the proposed trail, chances are you have questions and concerns. Rest assured, trails make better neighbors than trains!
Numerous studies have shown that trails do not negatively affect property values or safety. Here are just a few studies:
- University of Nebraska at Omaha: Trail Neighbors Study
- Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: Safety Study of 372 Trails
- Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: Economic Impact Study
- Trail Neighbors: Before and After the Trail
- National Park Service / Penn State University Trail Study
As part of our community outreach initiative, it is our goal to address your questions and concerns. Many of you enthusiastically support the proposed trail conversion, however, if you have concerns, here are answers to frequently asked questions:
- Can't I buy the rail property behind my house or have the railroad deed it to me?
- What effect will a trail have on my property value?
- What about safety? Won't a trail invite criminals into my yard?
- What's this going to cost? Will my taxes go up?
- What about noise and snowmobiles?
- Will ATVs and dirt bikes be allowed on the trail?
Abandonment is a technical term used by the Surface Transportation Board. It refers to abandonment of rail service from the line, not abandonment of the railroad's ownership of the line. If the Surface Transportation Board allows a rail line to be abandoned, the railroad still owns it until it officially liquidates the property through a real property sale.
In 1983, Congress enacted legislation aimed at preserving our nation's disappearing rail infrastructure through railbanking and interim trail use. This legislation allows railroads to transfer title and easements to a private or public organization to use the line as an interim trail. At the same time, the corridor is preserved should there ever need to reinstate rail traffic in the future.
- Can't I buy the rail property behind my house or have the railroad deed it to me?
A railroad's core business and primary source of revenue is moving goods from Point A to Point B. Railroads are not in the real estate business. Like any business though, a railroad will desire to liquidate and divest underutilized assets, however it is impractical and financially prohibitive for a railroad to engage in hundreds of real property transactions each time it wishes to divest a line. Additionally, Congressionally enacted legislation is aimed at railbanking unused rail corridors to preserve our nation's valuable infrastructure for future use. If a railroad sells part of the line, the corridor is forever broken. Moreover, it is unrealistic to think that each of the hundreds of landowners bordering the line would be interested in purchasing it. Therefore, the railroad would still be left with ownership interests in an underutilized asset. Even if the railroad deeded the property to all adjacent landowners, some would not want it. Therefore, railroads often desire to divest a line via one transaction: either through railbanking or sale to a utility company.
Just as the local authorities would respond to an emergency on the corridor now, they will too in the future. Moreover, the trail will also have the benefit of having more eyes, ears, and cellphones on the corridor than it does now. ECRT will also organize a volunteer trail patrol to assist in trail monitoring.
The trail will be covered by recreational use statutes, specifically the NYS General Obligations Law, which will indemnify trail ownership. As a trail neighbor, you are not liable unless you intentionally and maliciously fail to warn a trail user of a hazard on your neighboring property (for instance, you run barbed wire across the trail, etc.)
- What about noise and snowmobiles?
A trail is a much better neighbor than a train. While many neighbors can remember being awoken at 2 am by a passing freight train, a trail is much quieter than a train. It has not yet been determined if snowmobiles will be allowed on any or part of the trail. In some areas, snowmobiles may only be permitted to use the trail under low power as a way for local residents to access connecting snowmobile trails, but not for through travel. Consider that if snowmobiles are allowed on any portion of the trail, they are strictly regulated. NYS requires that snowmobiles adhere to specific decible restrictions (often quieter than your neighbor's snowblower). Additionally, snowmobiles must have at least 6 inches of snow on top of frozen ground to travel. This limits the days in the year to which they can travel to only a dozen or so. Snowmobiles also bring welcome security. Trails are policed by both County Sheriffs and State Police (on snowmobiles).
- Will ATVs and dirt bikes be allowed on the trail? No. These types of motorized vehicles are prohibited on State trails. Back to Top