Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

(The following story by Michael Tomberlin appeared on The Birmingham News website on August 16, 2009.)

AUSTELL, Ga. Joe Jerkins has never been to McCalla, but he fully understands the concerns residents there have about a planned Norfolk Southern intermodal facility.

As the mayor of Austell, Jerkins watched the community opposition grow to a proposed Norfolk Southern hub here 10 years ago. He even led an unsuccessful legal challenge against the project before deciding it might be better to work with the railroad giant instead of against it.

"They had hundreds of them against this project," Jerkins said. "They tried to crucify me. They called me a sell-out."


People at the time were convinced the project would pollute the air and water, would be so loud that it disrupted life for its neighbors and would have lights so bright at night that it would ruin the neighborhood.

They also feared the increased truck traffic from the facility, the hit their property values would take and the hazardous materials that might find their way into the facility.

Some even predicted truck stops and prostitution would become commonplace in the Cobb County town.

Norfolk Southern ended up building the intermodal facility in 2001 and residents anxiously awaited their worst fears being realized. Jerkins said they're still waiting.

"We haven't had any complaints since this thing got built," he said. "Nothing has happened like they said it would."

Jerkins said there were a few minor issues when dirt was being moved during the construction. He said the design of an intersection near the facility caused a couple of trucks to tip over because they were traveling too fast when making a turn.

When a federal court ruled Norfolk Southern did not have to abide by local zoning laws because the railroad falls under federal statutes, Jerkins realized fighting the project in state court would lead to failure. The Atlanta suburb had already spent $60,000 in legal fees and Jerkins did not want to waste any more of his taxpayers' dollars, he said.

Instead, he got permission from the city council to enter into talks with Norfolk Southern.

Those talks gained Austell 122 acres of the railroad's property that it was not going to use. The city also got $5 million.

Austell put that money in an interest-bearing account and committed to only spend the interest that accumulates.

In the last eight years, that interest has paid for a new fire station for the city, part of a new firetruck, storm windows for all of the houses near the facility (though Jerkins said the lack of noise made them more of a precaution than a necessity) and money to fix up the city's parks and green spaces.

Earlier this year, that money allowed Austell to give $10,000 to each of its five schools, $2,500 to each of the city's 18 churches and it even bought a new freezer for a local charity.

Jerkins said if he had it to do over again, he would have worked with the railroad from the beginning and urged McCalla to do just that.

"They're going to put it there. You can't stop them," Jerkins said. "The proper thing to do is to sit down with them. If they want to blow some money, they might as well get ready to do it and be foolish."

Spending money is just what No Hub 4 McCalla is preparing to do. The group has been raising money for a potential legal challenge to the $112 million intermodal facility Norfolk Southern intends to build on 316 acres next to the existing railroad track and McAdory Elementary School.

Last month, the group held a $10 per plate spaghetti dinner. On Saturday, the community held a yard sale and an art raffle. They have also sold T-shirts against the hub.

It is holding a meeting Monday night at the McAdory Elementary School cafeteria and it has applied for a protest permit for the Bessemer Civic Center Tuesday night where Norfolk Southern is holding its first public information meeting about the project.

"We plan on coming out with full-force opposition to it," said Terry Finch, a resident of Sadler Ridge subdivision near the planned hub site and an organizer of the No Hub 4 McCalla group.

Despite Jerkins' suggestion the group work with the railroad instead of against it, Finch said the group still believes it has a couple of key issues that could drive Norfolk Southern away.

"We're still hanging our hat on the school and the environmental concerns," Finch said. "We hope to announce at Monday's meeting some findings on the environmental side about how this will disturb some streams on the site."

Jerkins said the environmental concerns were similar to what Austell raised. After the facility was built, Norfolk Southern installed monitors throughout the facility and emissions, water quality and noise measurements all came in well within Environmental Protection Agency standards, Jerkins said.

As for property values, Jerkins said Norfolk Southern paid $10,000 per acre for its land. When Jerkins sold some personal property four years later that was about a mile away from the Norfolk Southern site, he got $65,000 per acre. He said the rise in property values was not all due to the railroad, but it's obvious the railroad didn't hurt.

Jerkins said Austell also has a school less than a mile from the intermodal facility and it has not been adversely affected by it.

Jefferson County school Superintendent Phil Hammonds led a group to Austell on Friday to tour the facility and meet with city and school officials there.

Rudy Husband, spokesman for Norfolk Southern, said another group of McCalla residents toured Austell on Aug. 11. He said the railroad has extended an invitation to others, but many of those who oppose the project declined.

Husband is hopeful the meeting Tuesday night will see a large turnout that is more receptive to getting information.

"Typically, those meetings have been received very well by the people who are genuinely interested in the project -- they have questions, we answer their questions and they're satisfied," Husband said. "For some, no matter what you say, their objective is to stop the project. There is not much you can do or say with those types of folks that is going to be helpful."

Jerkins said that has been his experience as well.

"Some of them are not going to change their mind," he said. "I had to prove what would happen."

For a school that has portable classrooms and other needs, Jerkins said there is likely more McCalla can gain by working with Norfolk Southern rather than against.

"You need to sit down with them," Jerkins said. "That's the advice I would give them. The railroad will do what it can for that school, I'm sure of that. That's the direction they need to go."

McCalla also has a need for new baseball and sports fields for the Greater McAdory Youth League and the Greater McAdory Athletic Association, which lost its fields to the construction of McAdory Middle School.

Finch said he expects Norfolk Southern will flash some cash to the school and the county board of education could take it, leaving No Hub 4 McCalla without its strongest ally.

Husband said right now it's hard to have such a discussion.

"We certainly want to have that conversation with school officials and local officials about ways we can enhance the local quality of life," Husband said.

But Husband said other than the board of education, many in the community have not shown a willingness to talk.

"Unfortunately, to date as it goes with McCalla, the emotions have run so high, there really hasn't been a willingness to have that conversation with us," he said. "The focus has been to stop the project as opposed to finding out how we can work together."

Husband said Norfolk Southern is committed to building in McCalla and he predicts the people there, like those in Austell, will realize the hub is not their worst fears realized.

"We're just going to keep plugging away at it," he said.

Monday, August 17, 2009