Court of Appeal to Consider Mendocino Railway’s Request to Overturn Ruling
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Following an emergency request by Mendocino Railway, the Courts of Appeal issued an order on May 4th suspending the City’s case before Judge Brennan while it reviews his ruling allowing that case to proceed in Mendocino County Superior Court.
The City of Fort Bragg filed a lawsuit in Superior Court, in a misguided attempt to end Mendocino Railway’s status as a public utility, which is regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission (and the federal Surface Transportation Board). The CPUC and the STB stand as an obstacle to the City’s desire to subject Mendocino Railway to its plenary power. As argued in its emergency request to the Court of Appeal, the Superior Court has no jurisdiction to hear challenges to a railroad’s status as a CPUC-regulated railroad (only the CPUC does). Mendocino Railway has asked the Courts of Appeal to reverse Judge Brennan’s erroneous ruling and compel him to dismiss the City’s case. The First Appeal District is expected to rule sometime in June 2022, after it receives further briefing by the parties.
“We are pleased that the Courts of Appeal have stopped the proceedings pending in Judge Brennan’s Court and are reviewing his ruling,” said Robert Pinoli, president of the Mendocino Railway. “However, now that the city council has achieved its objective of derailing the redevelopment of the former mill site, there is no need for lawsuits or to sabotage a loan that will create jobs and create economic activity for the communities of Fort Bragg and Willits. This is an egregious misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Mendocino Railway, which operates the Skunk Train, contends that the city’s lawsuit, combined with an effort to lobby federal authorities to deny an infrastructure improvement loan, was part of a broader political strategy to place economic pressure on the railway to abandon plans to redevelop it’s property. The $21.5 million U.S. Department of Transportation loan would be used to refurbish rails and a tunnel in order to restore the historical rail connection between Fort Bragg and Willits, allowing increased movement of passengers and freight. The loan has no connection to the abandoned redevelopment project.
On May 5, 2022, Mendocino Railway announced that the toxic political environment in Fort Bragg has made the redevelopment of the former Georgia Pacific lumber mill infeasible under the city’s current political leadership. The lumber mill that once employed 2,000 workers closed in 2002, and today, the property consists of broken concrete and blighted structures.
“By derailing the redevelopment of the former mill site, the Fort Bragg City Council squandered the best opportunity in 20-years to create quality jobs, new housing and greater coastal access,” said Pinoli. “Inaction and squandered opportunities will be this city council’s legacy. New leadership on the council is needed to restore trust and to bring real economic opportunity to the city.”
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But really…water is the limiting problem in Ft. Bragg. Same with much of the Mendocino coast. You can’t really redevelop and increase population without water…
I’d say that your statement applies more to the village of Mendocino. They (the provincial authority and some litigious citizens) are doing an excellent job of blocking any and all development because of a real lack of water and water infrastructure. I think Fort Bragg has some more wiggle room both in terms of public and government willingness to expand and the amount of water available for expansion. I recommend a trip to Australia. Seemed like most houses and cisterns for domestic water storage.
Why wouldn’t Fort Bragg want redevelopment of the mill site and improvements to Skunk Train? Both greatly benefit the FB economy. I don’t get it.
Follow the money.
Please elaborate a little?
The Railway took the land via eminent domain, they didn’t buy it. The City had long been looking into more development on the mill site.
As ridiculously inefficient as the local government can be, the railroad shouldn’t be able to just claim whatever they want and develop it however they want without local input.
Exactly. The Skunk wants federal designation as a common carrier in order to evade its responsibility to clean up the site. It has not acted in good faith, is therefore not to be trusted, and, as other posters have noted, seems to be ignoring the issue of water.
Kochinolio, you have it backwards. The Skunk is part of Mendocino Railway and is a common carrier. The City’s lawsuit seeks to change that status.
No, the railroad has repeatedly stated it will do the remediation. The railroad has already engaged in remediation of the North Mill Site and the railroad completed another remediation project that it took on when it acquired the Skunk. The fear that the railroad will try to evade this responsibility is unfounded, not supported by past actions and is simply not how the law works. The notion that a railroad can evade remediation is 100% false.
The water is a key issue that needs to be addressed. Nobody from the railroad has said otherwise.
Eminent domain is a process to acquire land through purchase or compensation. The land was purchased and the seller agreed to the price. The City had 5 months to object but didn’t. The final agreement was reviewed and approved by a local judge.
Yes, the City had been looking long into development. They had been looking for almost 2 decades long. Wishful looking is fine, but cities are not good at developing land.
There is certainly local input into the development process and railroads have limitations on what they can do. For example, the railroad was working closely with the City and Community for the plans on the North Mill Site property that was purchased in 2019.
I live in Mendocino. The local train system that is trying to develop the old mill site is is lying to the county and the state. They are NOT a public utility. Our local train system is simply a tourist attraction. The trains don’t carry supplies nor do they transport people from city to city. They want to develop the mill site so that their tourist trains can run along the coast. There is no other reason for them developing the mill site. I don’t know why this article is in favor of the trains but the skunk train has been attempting to buy this land for decades but our local government has constantly blocked them from doing so because the skunk train continues to lie and claim that it is a public utility which it is not. Btw tourists are not the problem the lying Managers at our local train station are to blame.
Dear anonymous “Concerned Citizen” who lives in another town. Please tell me where we have lied.
Meanwhile, I’ll point out the numerous inaccuracies that I’ll politely stop short of labeling as “lies” by you.
Christopher Hart, Mendocino Railway