US government to pay $5M to Ecusta Trail landowners who brought suit over greenway
Landowners disputing the use of their property to build a 19-mile greenway/rail trail between Hendersonville and Brevard will be paid $5 million by the federal government.
That is after a May 31 award in U.S. Federal Claims Court to the 164 landowners in Henderson and Transylvania counties. The award will not affect the construction of the trail, which is already underway, Henderson County officials said.
Plaintiff's attorney Lindsay Brinton in a June 6 statement said many of the landowners were "disheartened" by the loss of their property.
"They shared concerns of trespassing, loss of privacy, loss of river access and impact on farming operations," Brinton said.
The Citizen Times reached out to defense attorney Peter W. Brocker with the U.S. Department of Justice.
In an answer to the complaint filed in 2021 and amended in 2022, federal attorneys said the land transfer was not done through a government use of eminent domain — the taking of private property and converting it into public use.
"The U.S. denies that any taking whatsoever has affected these plaintiffs," the defendants' response said.
In question was section 8(d) of the National Trails System Act, which established railbanking in 1983, according to the Rails to Trails Conservancy, a law that has now accounted for the creation of more than 4,200 miles of unused railroad lines to trails for walking and biking nationally.
It's a voluntary agreement between a railroad company, in this case Blue Ridge Southern, and a trail agency, in this case Ecusta Rails2Trails LLC, to use an out-of-service railway as a trail until the railroad may need the route for service again.
The agreement transfers ownership to a private organization or public agency, and as Rails to Trails' website explains, the "property transfer precludes abandonment. In other words, because a railbanked corridor is not considered abandoned, it can be sold, leased or donated to a trail manager without reverting to adjacent landowners."
That federal law trumps the North Carolina state law that would have returned land under easement to the property owners once the railroad abandoned the line, Brinton said.
The litigation wound down May 9 when federal attorneys offered to accept a judgement against the government on condition that payment was limited to compensation for the properties and interest. Costs, expenses and attorneys' fees that were were originally sought by plaintiffs were not part of the deal that the landowners accepted May 23.
Construction of the trail, estimated to cost $50 million will not be affected by the suit, said Henderson County Business and Community Development Director Christopher Todd.
"This has no impact on the budget or timeline of the Ecusta Trail project," Todd said.
County Engineer Marcus Jones has said Phase 1 of the trail, which will run from downtown Hendersonville to Horse Shoe, should be completed by December. The entire trail has a three to five-year timeline, officials have said.
One defendant, Roxy Goodwin, had complained of lack of collaboration with the contractor hired for trail development.
"The only notice we had of this occurring was a knock on the door from the contractor," Goodwin told the Hendersonville Times-News in February.
Goodwin's stone wall, gravel driveway and Leyland cypress trees were all removed, said defense attorney Brinton with the St. Louis-based Lewis Rice law practice.
"We are pleased that we have been able to obtain the just compensation from the federal government that these individuals are entitled to," she said.
Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
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