County settles Rail Trail dispute with Meily Farm at $125,000 taxpayer cost

(Undated) — A multiyear legal battle pitting plans to extend the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail against a farm estate ended Thursday when the Lebanon County commissioners unanimously agreed to a settlement.

The settlement comes at a cost to taxpayers – $125,000 in general fund money, plus an agreement to maintain a separate trail for farm equipment and livestock.

In exchange, Lebanon County will soon be able to use the rail bed in dispute – located on the Meily estate between Long Lane and Tunnel Hill Road in North Lebanon Township – to finally finish a portion of the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail that it has a grant to complete.

“(It is) a good outcome for everyone – the Rail Trail, the county, and farmland,” county commissioner Bob Phillips said.

For the county commissioners, relief at being able to move the project forward trumped the indignity of paying again to use land the county already purchased. 

But the alternative – continuing the legal fight in court – was worse, according to county administrator Jamie Wolgemuth. That’s because the county has already used part of a multimillion-dollar state grant to build Phase 7 of the trail from 25th Street to Long Lane. If the county had been unable to complete the project, it would have had to pay a large sum of money back to the state. 

The county purchased a rail bed, including the portion in dispute, from Reading Railroad in 2012 for $87,500.

However, the farm families on the estate of Richard and Lois Meily said the estate actually has rights to the rail bed because they have used it to transport crops and move dairy cattle since the railroad abandoned it more than 40 years ago. The farm families told the county commissioners in December 2016 that, without the rail bed, they would have to detour cattle onto heavily traveled roads, creating a safety hazard.

The commissioners unanimously agreed in December 2016 to sue the Meily estate, which leases the farm. The current settlement is the result of another year of subsequent negotiations.

Under the settlement terms, the estate will give the county and the Rail Trail a deed disclaiming any rights to the rail bed, Wolgemuth said.

In exchange, the commissioners will build and maintain a separate gravel trail parallel to the rail trail that the farmers can use. There will be five access points at which the farmers can cross over the rail trail. 

There will also be a stretch of about 300 feet where the two trails will coincide while crossing over the old Union Canal.

Building and maintaining the trail is “not going to be expensive construction,” Wolgemuth said, but a closer examination would be needed before the county can provide an exact cost. The county may seek grant funding to help offset that cost.

The additional $125,000 in general fund money the county will provide does not have strings attached but is in response to the farmers’ contention they will have to build additional stream crossings at their own expense to effectively move around the farm, Wolgemuth said.

George Christianson, an attorney representing the estate, said the settlement won’t make everyone happy but was resolved in a manner that will allow the farmers on the estate to continue farming.

Now that the settlement is complete, that portion of the rail trail will likely be completed this year, Wolgemuth said.

A different section of the trail that would wind through Lebanon’s west side may also be on its way.

The commissioners lent their support to an application by Lebanon Valley Rails to Trails for a $740,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. If granted, the money would be in place to extend the trail from its current ending at Chestnut Street west of 12th Street through Wengert Memorial Park to Gloninger Woods Park at 22nd and Chestnut streets.

That portion of the trail is expected to be completed by 2020.

People can currently access the trail from Lebanon-Lancaster county line to Chestnut Street and in the Jonestown area, but some sections in-between remain undeveloped.

The commissioners praised the trail for attracting residents to Lebanon County.

“It’s an economic driver as well as an open space and recreation venue. It brings in tourism. It covers so many different aspects, it’s wonderful,” county commissioner Jo Ellen Litz said.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Lebanon Daily News.