College Pursuing Railroad Land

— A railroad track that runs through NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s campus would be removed under a tentative land purchase agreement the college has arranged.

Under the deal, the college would pay $2.5 million to the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad for about 1 1/4 miles of rail that runs from Water Tower Road west to the intersection of Southeast P Street and Southeast Eighth Street, where it stops. About one-third of that rail cuts through the college’s campus, said Evelyn Jorgenson, college president.

The price includes removing all rail, ties and signals, as well as leveling the land.

At A Glance

National Child Protection Training Center

Renovation of the building that will house the National Child Protection Training Center at NorthWest Arkansas Community College is on schedule and expected to be completed Dec. 28, according to Amy Benincosa, associate director of development for the college’s foundation. Furnishings will be delivered Dec. 16, she said. An opening is scheduled for February. The $3 million project began in March. The college is one of two locations in the nation providing training to people who work with children to recognize, report and respond to child abuse.

Source: Staff Report

The college’s Land Use and Facilities Committee unanimously approved the deal at its meeting Wednesday. The board will consider the matter at its meeting Monday.

The railroad’s offer to sell the land came up during a meeting among college, city and railroad officials last month, Jorgenson said. The railroad doesn’t typically look to sell its land, she said.

“But they want to be a good neighbor,” Jorgenson said. “They realize it cuts across the center of our campus. They said several times they don’t normally sell land, but this is one time they’d be willing to do it.”

College officials cited safety and aesthetics as the main reasons for wanting to remove the rails from campus. The railroad recently began using the section to park its cars. That creates an eyesore, Jorgenson said.

Joe Spivey, a college board member, said rail cars parked on campus could contain dangerous chemicals.

“So we’re eliminating that threat,” Spivey said.

The $2.5 million would come from the college’s debt service fund, which may be used to pay for capital projects. At the end of this fiscal year, the college expects to have more than $5.7 million in that fund.

Diana Nagel, president of the college’s Faculty Senate, said she couldn’t see a downside to the deal. She was at Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock earlier this week, where she was impressed by the feeling of cohesiveness on campus, which she attributed in part to the fact there are no physical divisions such as a railroad track.

“I was thinking it would be really nice if we had that, too,” Nagel said.

Jorgenson said her hope is eventually to sell that portion of the railroad land between the college and Southeast P Street.

Bentonville was involved in discussions with the railroad, but officials determined it didn’t make financial sense to buy any of the railroad’s land, said Mayor Bob McCaslin. That was despite the fact the track crosses a part of Eighth Street which soon will undergo a major widening project.

“There’s no valid reason for us to propose an expenditure that doesn’t produce a return for our taxpayers,” McCaslin said.

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