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Sarasota County has paid $30 million to develop the Legacy Trail, a 12.8-mile linear park built along an abandoned rail line. Despite the trail's popularity — it draws about 120,000 visitors a year and rising — some critics say it cost too much.
And they are not going to like this news. Taxpayers may soon be on the hook for another $40 million to $50 million for the trail. The money will come not from the county, but from the federal government, if it is forced to pay for the "taking" of 122 properties along the trail.
The dispute, still being hashed out in federal claims court, stems from the National Trails System Act of 1983, which allows railroads to abandon unproductive lines by relinquishing them to "sponsors," such as Sarasota County. The sponsors generally turn the rail beds into recreational trails. The railroad companies get rid of their liabilities and maintenance costs, but, under what is called rail banking, the companies have the right to take back the property and reinstall lines in the future.
What is admittedly an unusual arrangement recognizes the incredible value of these long, linear corridors — many established in the 1800s — for public uses ranging from recreation to locations for fiber optic cables.
It also has opened a new field of private rights advocacy, as attorneys for property owners and the federal government wrangle over interpretation of common law, just compensation and what constitutes abandonment.
For the full article, visit the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
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