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Relocation effort derailed: Town decides not to pursue moving railroad tracks
By By:Susan Dage-Ruby
The people of Castle Rock have spoken: Relocating the railroad should not be a top priority of the town.
And the Castle Rock Town Council has listened.
The council will announce Thursday that the town will not pursue the relocation.
"Based on the community's response to the project, the council has decided to pull it off the table," said Jay Beeton, communications manager for the town.
"It's our way of honoring what discovery told us," Beeton said. "The key is, we take citizen input seriously."
Relocating the railroad is part of the town's Vision 2020 plan, said Castle Rock Mayor Herb Teets.
"Originally I was in favor of relocating the railroad," Teets said. "But as it evolved, there was no community support."
Also, the financial issues were considered. The Colorado Department of Transportation accelerated its schedule for the Interstate 25 south corridor improvements, and the lost a window of opportunity for financial support from CDOT, Teets said.
In 2000, the town hired Nolte Engineering to conduct a railroad relocation feasibility study. The results of the study indicated it was feasible to move the Union Pacific northbound tracks that bisect downtown Castle Rock to the west side of town and run them parallel with the Burlington Northern southbound tracks.
The proposed cost of moving the tracks came with a $60 million price tag.
Castle Rock would not have paid the entire cost, Teets said.
"It was never the intention of the study to pursue the project without federal funds and the support of the community," Teets said.
Throughout the spring, the town conducted three open houses to educate the community on the possibility of relocating the tracks.
Nearly 20 people attended the meeting representing the Founders Village/Woodlands area, said Fritz Sprague, assistant town manager. About 90 attended the meeting at Meadows/Redhawk and about 110 attended the downtown meeting.
Support for relocating the tracks followed geographical lines, Sprague said, with Founders/Woodlands and downtown in support of relocation and Meadows/Redhawk against.
The town received 108 comments about the proposal: 70 against compared with 38 for moving the tracks, Sprague said.
A statistically valid telephone survey of 520 residents also was conducted that asked if relocating the tracks was a good idea, and 56 percent said yes and 36 percent said no.
Then the respondents were asked to prioritize a number of town projects including moving the tracks, road work, water system improvements and more. Moving the tracks ranked low on most people's lists.
After that, respondents were asked the same question and support for moving the tracks dropped dramatically to a dead-even split, 47 percent for and 47 percent against.
"I supported moving the tracks to make the town safer and quieter," said Brad Brown, a local downtown developer. "I'm empathetic with what the town council decided, it's a tough decision to spend that kind of money."
Members of the Castle Rock Historical Society and the Historic Preservation Board came out against the project because of concerns about losing the historic flavor of downtown Castle Rock.
"I think its a great move forward for historic preservation," said Debbie Buboltz-Bodle, chairwoman for the Castle Rock Historical Preservation Board. "Personally, I'm very pleased."
The Union Pacific tracks have acted as a buffer between commercial and residential areas in the historic portion of Castle Rock, Buboltz-Bodle said.
"The board's concerns were that relocating the tracks might mean commercial ventures would creep into the historic Craig and Gould [neighborhood]," she said.
Although the railroad relocation project has been put to bed, some members of the council hope to be able to address other possible mitigation techniques to make the tracks through downtown safer, Beeton said.
"Since I moved to Castle Rock 15 years ago, I've thought something needed to be done about the Fifth Street crossing," said Bill Shaneyfelt, District 2 councilman. "But I never thought of relocating the tracks until I got on the council."
And the Castle Rock Town Council has listened.
The council will announce Thursday that the town will not pursue the relocation.
"Based on the community's response to the project, the council has decided to pull it off the table," said Jay Beeton, communications manager for the town.
"It's our way of honoring what discovery told us," Beeton said. "The key is, we take citizen input seriously."
Relocating the railroad is part of the town's Vision 2020 plan, said Castle Rock Mayor Herb Teets.
"Originally I was in favor of relocating the railroad," Teets said. "But as it evolved, there was no community support."
Also, the financial issues were considered. The Colorado Department of Transportation accelerated its schedule for the Interstate 25 south corridor improvements, and the lost a window of opportunity for financial support from CDOT, Teets said.
In 2000, the town hired Nolte Engineering to conduct a railroad relocation feasibility study. The results of the study indicated it was feasible to move the Union Pacific northbound tracks that bisect downtown Castle Rock to the west side of town and run them parallel with the Burlington Northern southbound tracks.
The proposed cost of moving the tracks came with a $60 million price tag.
Castle Rock would not have paid the entire cost, Teets said.
"It was never the intention of the study to pursue the project without federal funds and the support of the community," Teets said.
Throughout the spring, the town conducted three open houses to educate the community on the possibility of relocating the tracks.
Nearly 20 people attended the meeting representing the Founders Village/Woodlands area, said Fritz Sprague, assistant town manager. About 90 attended the meeting at Meadows/Redhawk and about 110 attended the downtown meeting.
Support for relocating the tracks followed geographical lines, Sprague said, with Founders/Woodlands and downtown in support of relocation and Meadows/Redhawk against.
The town received 108 comments about the proposal: 70 against compared with 38 for moving the tracks, Sprague said.
A statistically valid telephone survey of 520 residents also was conducted that asked if relocating the tracks was a good idea, and 56 percent said yes and 36 percent said no.
Then the respondents were asked to prioritize a number of town projects including moving the tracks, road work, water system improvements and more. Moving the tracks ranked low on most people's lists.
After that, respondents were asked the same question and support for moving the tracks dropped dramatically to a dead-even split, 47 percent for and 47 percent against.
"I supported moving the tracks to make the town safer and quieter," said Brad Brown, a local downtown developer. "I'm empathetic with what the town council decided, it's a tough decision to spend that kind of money."
Members of the Castle Rock Historical Society and the Historic Preservation Board came out against the project because of concerns about losing the historic flavor of downtown Castle Rock.
"I think its a great move forward for historic preservation," said Debbie Buboltz-Bodle, chairwoman for the Castle Rock Historical Preservation Board. "Personally, I'm very pleased."
The Union Pacific tracks have acted as a buffer between commercial and residential areas in the historic portion of Castle Rock, Buboltz-Bodle said.
"The board's concerns were that relocating the tracks might mean commercial ventures would creep into the historic Craig and Gould [neighborhood]," she said.
Although the railroad relocation project has been put to bed, some members of the council hope to be able to address other possible mitigation techniques to make the tracks through downtown safer, Beeton said.
"Since I moved to Castle Rock 15 years ago, I've thought something needed to be done about the Fifth Street crossing," said Bill Shaneyfelt, District 2 councilman. "But I never thought of relocating the tracks until I got on the council."
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