Town seeking funding for depot

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Patience is a virtue.
But the early bird gets the worm.
As the mere first step of court proceedings in the Rural Retreat depot dispute continues to drag on, Town Council has decided to push ahead with applying for a grant to restore the historic train station.
At their first November meeting, the governing body voted to submit a grant due Dec. 1 for federal transportation dollars.
In August, an attorney for Jack Weaver presented arguments in Wythe County Circuit Court that the town’s action was illegal.
Weaver owned the depot through Huckleberry Farms LLC until Town Council voted in April to take ownership of the structure by using eminent domain.
As of late Friday afternoon, Judge Josiah Showalter Jr. still had not issued his written opinion in the matter.
Town Manager Raymond Matney said the town may lose out on its best chance for obtaining funding to restore the dilapidated depot if it waits for the lengthy legal process to end before seeking grants.
Weaver previously has vowed to fight the town’s action all the way to the Supreme Court.
The town is submitting an application for a TEA-21 grant. Matney said the grant funds come from federal dollars, but the money is doled out by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
“The primary reason [for applying for the grant now] is the Commonwealth Transportation Board is steering away from these type of projects,” he said. “I think the next cycle they’ll be less favorable to restoring train stations.”
Matney said he’s still working on how he’ll describe the depot’s odd ownership situation as he finishes the grant application.
He said he’s honestly not sure how the grant administrators will feel about the town applying for funds while the court case lingers.
“It’s probably never been tested,” he said.
Although Matney continued to express confidence that the town will prevail in obtaining a favorable ruling from the courts, he said the grant funds will simply be returned if ownership of the depot reverts to Weaver.
When interviewed Friday, Matney said he still had not decided how much money the town would be asking for in its application. He said the town will not find out if its request is approved until spring 2010.
In preparing its grant application, the town has also hired the architectural services of the Lane Group to develop ideas for uses for a restored depot.
Matney said the town paid $3,500 for the Lane Group’s work.
According to unofficial minutes from the Town Council’s Nov. 10 meeting, Jody Gibson from the Lane Group made a presentation to the governing body on her firm’s ideas.
Gibson told the group that the station could be used as both an exhibit area and a meeting space. She also said the structure could become a rest stop for bikers on the 76 Bike Route, a national trail that passes through Rural Retreat.
In the Lane Group’s proposal, the bikers would have access to restrooms and vending machines.
Matney said long-term funding for running a community facility or bikers’ rest stop at the depot is still up in the air, but he acknowledged that cyclists buying the odd candy bar won’t bring in revenue to the town or even support keeping the lights on and water running at the station.
While a huge crowd turned out for the April public hearing about the depot, no one other than Gibson spoke on Nov. 10 about their ideas for restoring the station or the wisdom of the town pursuing a grant.
Matney said he feels like town residents – even those that disapproved of Town Council’s use of eminent domain – want to see the depot restored.
“I think everybody,” he said, “supports that.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).