Residents bemoan railroad tree cutting

Some Cary, N.C., residents are unhappy with a bit of gardening that CSX Transportation did near its railroad last month, the Cary News reports. Workers came through with a large machine and tore apart trees along several stretches of rail in Cary, residents say.

"It’s carnage,"
said Betty Landes, a manager at the Heritage Pines subdivision. "They
literally went along the edge of the railroad track and went whacky-whacky-whacky."

CSXT appears to have cut
back some bushes and scraggly trees that dotted the railway across the street
from Heritage Pines. The company left many nearby trees intact, but split trees
and debris lined the railroad’s right-of-way there and in other parts of town
last week.

"They didn’t clean
up any mess at all," said Kathryn Kuhn, a Heritage Pines resident.

CSXT crews trimmed plant
growth along 20 miles of railroad in the name of safety.

"We trimmed the area
to prevent damage to our freight trains, and we do this regularly across our
21,000-mile system to support safe operations," Carla Groleau, the
company’s communication director, wrote in an e-mail. "In this specific
area there was a visibility concern brought to our attention by a deaf couple."

CSX employees trimmed the
plant growth with brush cutters and tractors, she said. The company doesn’t
plan to pick up the debris; it says the wood and plant matter should decompose
naturally.

Cary Councilman Don
Frantz said he saw the crews tear up trees behind Frantz Automotive Center on
West Chatham Street. "I used to have a nice buffer between my shop and the
railroad tracks … but no more," Frantz said. "It looks like a mini
tornado came through."

CSXT usually comes
through every few years and trims branches, he said. But this time, "they
came through with this ginormous machine that just went to town on those
trees."

The company destroyed
evergreens and pine trees near his property that were as thick as 12 inches, he
said. He understood the railroad company’s need to deal with dangerous trees,
he said, but thought the crews went above and beyond reasonable trimming.

For some sections of the
railroad, the town could have legal recourse.

A provision in the town
code says that Cary property owners must dispose of fallen trees, stumps,
limbs, leaves and vegetation debris and bars property owners from leaving that
kind of debris on property within town limits.

Most of the railroad
right-of-way is outside of the town’s jurisdiction.

For violations inside
town limits, the town code calls for town staff to notify property owners of
violations to the debris ordinance. If the owner doesn’t respond fast enough,
the code authorizes the town to "abate the violation" – clean up the
debris – and charge the property owner the clean-up costs, plus 10 percent.

Ricky Barker, Cary’s
associate planning director, said the town would need to investigate the
matter. If there is a code violation, town staff would talk to CSXT
representatives, he said. Frantz wasn’t sure progress would come easily.

"I’ve got a feeling
this one’s going to be a battle," he said.

Groleau, the CSXT representative,
said last week that she would share information about the possible violation
with the coordinator of the vegetation-clearing project.