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NOVATO SETTLES SUIT AGAINST FREIGHT TRAINS
Author: NWP
Date: 10-28-2008 - 14:22
NOVATO SETTLES SUIT AGAINST FREIGHT TRAINS
Council OKs settlement with railroad authority, will recover legal expenses
By Tim Omarzu
Managing Editor NOVATO Advance
Monday, October 27, 2008 11:11 PM PDT
At a special meeting Monday night, the Novato City Council voted unanimously, with one councilmember absent, to settle its lawsuit with the state agency working to resume freight train service on tracks that run through Novato.
The city got several more concessions from the North Coast Railroad Authority above those outlined in a draft settlement, including:
• The city will receive up to $325,000 to cover its legal expenses, an increase from the initial $300,000.
• Novato reserves its right to sue the railroad agency over its soon-to-be-released environmental impact report for the operation of freight trains.
• The settlement calls for the use of low-emission diesel locomotives, installation of quiet zones at all Novato crossings so engineers shouldn’t have to blow the train’s whistle, and the continuous welding of track through Novato to reduce the trains’ clickity-clack. If these improvements are not made by Jan.1, 2012, the freight trains would have to cease operation.
• Until the above improvements are made, only three freight trains can run per week, and they all must run during the daytime.
Both sides praised the settlement.
Councilman Jim Leland said that council took a lot of heat for the lawsuit and “invested a ton of taxpayer money” in it – but that councilmembers stayed the course to defend the interests of Novatan who would be impacted.
“I have never been more proud of the work that I have done with these ladies on this issue,” Leland said, referring to the four female city council members.
Councilwoman Jeanne MacLeamy said, “I think we’ve done far better than we ever would with a court settlement.”
She said that the settlement should cover all of Novato’s attorney’s expenses — but not the “untold staff hours that were not even counted.”
MacLeamy added, “It’s time to move on.”
Councilwoman Madeline Kellner said, “I think we have gotten many of things that are of deep concern to us (in the settlement).”
Mayor Pat Eklund , “We took the brave step of going forward with litigation.”
Eklund singled out the low-emission locomotives as being a good deal.
“That is huge, to require that they have environmentally friendly engines,” she said.
Told Monday night of the council’s vote, Mitch Stogner, executive director of the North Coast Railroad Authority, said, “That is very good news.”
Stogner said it was a fair settlement that “balances the region’s desire for train service and Novato’s desire to minimize impact. We want to be collaborative.”
Mike Arnold, an opponent of the North Coast Railroad Authority and of the proposed SMART commuter train, spoke up several times at Monday’s meeting. One of Arnold’s concerns was that the settlement might allow freight train shipments from the Island Mountain Quarry on the Eel River to take place without being subject to the California Environmental Quality Act.
But city attorney Jeffrey Walter responded to Arnold’s statement by telling council, “This settlement has no impact on what might happen north of Willits. We can’t, through this lawsuit, control that.”
Walter told the Advance that the city got a good settlement agreement, and he attributed that to a ruling made in February by Marin County Superior Court Judge James Ritchie that favored Novato and put a temporary injunction on much of the reconstruction work of the railroad track.
Walter speculated that the railroad authority feared that the injunction would become permanent.
“Some may claim the NCRA believed that the writing was on the wall,” he said.
Stogner said that the railroad authority now plans to award the contracts to repair railroad bridges and the track itself. The railroad authority already was able to complete work on the 62 miles of track between Lombard near Highway 29 and Willits, such as installing new crossing signals.
“Now we can finish the repairs,” Stogner said.
He hopes the track can be finished by spring of 2009.
In the meantime, the railroad authority plans to release its environmental impact report for train operations in early November. Freight train service can’t resume until that document has been certified.
Councilwoman Carol Dillon Knutson was absent from Monday’s council meeting.
Council OKs settlement with railroad authority, will recover legal expenses
By Tim Omarzu
Managing Editor NOVATO Advance
Monday, October 27, 2008 11:11 PM PDT
At a special meeting Monday night, the Novato City Council voted unanimously, with one councilmember absent, to settle its lawsuit with the state agency working to resume freight train service on tracks that run through Novato.
The city got several more concessions from the North Coast Railroad Authority above those outlined in a draft settlement, including:
• The city will receive up to $325,000 to cover its legal expenses, an increase from the initial $300,000.
• Novato reserves its right to sue the railroad agency over its soon-to-be-released environmental impact report for the operation of freight trains.
• The settlement calls for the use of low-emission diesel locomotives, installation of quiet zones at all Novato crossings so engineers shouldn’t have to blow the train’s whistle, and the continuous welding of track through Novato to reduce the trains’ clickity-clack. If these improvements are not made by Jan.1, 2012, the freight trains would have to cease operation.
• Until the above improvements are made, only three freight trains can run per week, and they all must run during the daytime.
Both sides praised the settlement.
Councilman Jim Leland said that council took a lot of heat for the lawsuit and “invested a ton of taxpayer money” in it – but that councilmembers stayed the course to defend the interests of Novatan who would be impacted.
“I have never been more proud of the work that I have done with these ladies on this issue,” Leland said, referring to the four female city council members.
Councilwoman Jeanne MacLeamy said, “I think we’ve done far better than we ever would with a court settlement.”
She said that the settlement should cover all of Novato’s attorney’s expenses — but not the “untold staff hours that were not even counted.”
MacLeamy added, “It’s time to move on.”
Councilwoman Madeline Kellner said, “I think we have gotten many of things that are of deep concern to us (in the settlement).”
Mayor Pat Eklund , “We took the brave step of going forward with litigation.”
Eklund singled out the low-emission locomotives as being a good deal.
“That is huge, to require that they have environmentally friendly engines,” she said.
Told Monday night of the council’s vote, Mitch Stogner, executive director of the North Coast Railroad Authority, said, “That is very good news.”
Stogner said it was a fair settlement that “balances the region’s desire for train service and Novato’s desire to minimize impact. We want to be collaborative.”
Mike Arnold, an opponent of the North Coast Railroad Authority and of the proposed SMART commuter train, spoke up several times at Monday’s meeting. One of Arnold’s concerns was that the settlement might allow freight train shipments from the Island Mountain Quarry on the Eel River to take place without being subject to the California Environmental Quality Act.
But city attorney Jeffrey Walter responded to Arnold’s statement by telling council, “This settlement has no impact on what might happen north of Willits. We can’t, through this lawsuit, control that.”
Walter told the Advance that the city got a good settlement agreement, and he attributed that to a ruling made in February by Marin County Superior Court Judge James Ritchie that favored Novato and put a temporary injunction on much of the reconstruction work of the railroad track.
Walter speculated that the railroad authority feared that the injunction would become permanent.
“Some may claim the NCRA believed that the writing was on the wall,” he said.
Stogner said that the railroad authority now plans to award the contracts to repair railroad bridges and the track itself. The railroad authority already was able to complete work on the 62 miles of track between Lombard near Highway 29 and Willits, such as installing new crossing signals.
“Now we can finish the repairs,” Stogner said.
He hopes the track can be finished by spring of 2009.
In the meantime, the railroad authority plans to release its environmental impact report for train operations in early November. Freight train service can’t resume until that document has been certified.
Councilwoman Carol Dillon Knutson was absent from Monday’s council meeting.
| Subject | Written By | Date/Time (PST) |
|---|---|---|
 NOVATO SETTLES SUIT AGAINST FREIGHT TRAINS |
NWP | 10-28-2008 - 14:22 |