Comment EI-23463
Received or sent (printed as 6/6/2016)
I was reading an article in the Prairie Farmer magazine, which recommended contacting you with concerns over the impact of the proposed GREAT Lakes Basin Rail project. On a personal level the rail map puts the proposed route right through the middle of a 40.11 acre parcel which my wife and I own. The impact of this would be severe on many levels, in my opinion far outweighing the proposed offer of $20,000 per acre. One concern is that LaSalle county requires 40 acres to build a house, if the rail goes through my property, I will no longer own a build-able piece of land, thus decreasing the remaining properties value. The next thing would be that my property will be split, leaving a small portion of acreage on the other side of the new rail, with no guarantee that the surrounding road will be reconnected by a crossing, and leaving me to possibly drive many miles just to continue to farm the remaining portion, thus decreasing the properties value as a farm. My other concerns are just common sense, a railroad makes noise, and nobody wants to live around that , so even if the ground was grandfathered" in to allow it to be built upon, who would want to live by a train. Basically, the proposed rail will dramatically decrease the value of the only ground that I own. The small acreage that I own will be decimated in all aspects of its present value to me, leaving me with a piece of ground that will not increase in value with time, which is part of the reason it was purchased. Thanks for taking the time to hear my concerns. Tom"
Submitted by: Tom Hinterlong
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-35952/comment/EI-23463 · back to the docket sheet