Railroad ends dispute among neighbors

Residents in the Historic Mill Village found themselves up in arms recently over a neighbor’s decision to cut brush along the railroad tracks.

Robert Hobbs, who lives on the other side of North White Street, from the Mill Village, cut the brush because he said he had grown tired of looking at the scrubby mess from his front porch.

“It’s not the kind of thing I ought to have to look at every morning when I go out,” Hobbs said.

But neighbors in the village said the brush served as a dust and noise barrier, and they didn’t want it cut.

On Friday, Mill Village residents, Hobbs and his grandmother met with CSX Railroad officials and Wake Forest public works director Mike Barton to decide how to settle the disagreement.

CSX public affairs officer Nelson High put a quick end to the suspense.

“That property is CSX property, and you can’t go on that property without the proper authorization,” High told Hobbs.

Hobbs said he thought he had all the authorization he needed when he asked a train crew for permission to cut the brush down.

But High said train crews weren’t authorized to give that permission.

“I won’t say there isn’t anyway you can have access to that property because you can fill out a form and if that’s accepted and you have a $3 million liability insurance policy payable to us, then you can have access to the property,” High said.

High said individuals can rarely afford that, although cities often do.

High said railroad officials try not to cut vegetation from the side of the tracks.

“The railroad likes vegetation because we think it makes it safer. Unless a local government tells us we are in violation of a town ordinance, we won’t cut it,” High said.

High also said the railroad would look into the ownership of a small dirt road that runs parallel to the tracks and connects Brick and Chestnut Streets.

“If that street is on our property, we’ll barricade it so that there is no more traffic using it,” High said.

Mary Hayes, who organized Friday’s meeting, asked who would be responsible for collecting the debris from the cutting that Hobbs did.

“I think it’s a fire hazard as it is,” Hayes said.

Barton and High said the railroad and the town would work together to remove the cuttings.

Hobbs cut the debris on July 11, but it wasn’t the first time he has cut brush off the bank.

He first cleared the bank in March 2005, according to Hayes.

But complaints to town and railroad officials drew little response.

Friday’s meeting, Hayes said, should clear the matter up going forward.

“We just want to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” Hayes said.