The Westside Board has approved an agreement with the Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway [ACWR] that will allow the Lakeway Drive rail crossing to become a public crossing, equipped with gate arms and signaling equipment. The unanimous decision was rendered in the Board's Tuesday, February 14 Work Session.
BB&T will contribute $75,000 to the $169,400 cost of the deal, and Property Center owner Phil Harrell will contribute an as yet unspecified amount.
The Board announced on Monday that Seven Lakes Plaza shopping center owner James Kirkpatrick had declined to participate, and SLWLA Treasurer Jack Stevens told The Times at Tuesday's meeting that Elaine Yow Girgis, who owns several tracts on the west side of the railroad, had also declined to contribute to the cost of the agreement. Stevens said other negotiations continue, about which he could not disclose any details.
BB&T owns both the property on which its Seven Lakes Branch is located and the former Beacon Ridge Sales Office on the other side of Lakeway Drive.
ACWR representatives approached the SLWLA Board in October, seeking payment to help defray the future costs of maintaining and insuring the upgraded crossing and signals, before signing a permanent easement needed by the NC Department of Transportation [NCDOT] in order to make the crossing a public crossing.
NCDOT will invest approximately $650,000 in federal rail safety funds to upgrade the high-traffic Lakeway Drive crossing, while closing low-volume crossings at Edgewood Terrace and Mode Road in West End.
