BNSF shows interest in Railway District land

Neighborhood has been undergoing a renaissance

By RICHARD HANNERS

Whitefish Pilot

Information about what's happening in Whitefish's historic Railway District is guarded, but property owners in the neighborhood's northwest corner have been approached by BNSF Railway about purchasing their land over the past two months.

Property owners have held neighborhood meetings with railroad officials on several occasions. Some property owners were represented by attorneys, and several properties have had appraisals conducted.

Business owners, developers and the railroad are being very careful about what they say, but it appears the company is interested in buying several properties that border BNSF land.

"BNSF Railway has been working with Montana DEQ on an environmental clean up," company spokesman Gus Melonas, in Seattle, told the Pilot last week. "This process includes meeting with some of our neighbors to give them options for their properties."

A century of railroading in Whitefish has left several large underground diesel fuel plumes that are gradually migrating south from the company's roundhouse and tracks. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality stepped up its interest in getting contaminated BNSF sites across the state cleaned up after Gov. Schweitzer took office.

In Whitefish, results from monitoring and test wells on railroad property and at depot park were used to delineate a boundary for a Superfund site. But the uncertain southern boundary is depicted with a dashed line that zig-zags around private property where wells have not been drilled — including property in the Railway District.

The Railway District has undergone a renaissance in recent years, with summertime festivals and innovative architecture aimed at creating a traditional neighborhood. Concerns are not only that property values might drop, or that the district's quaint little houses will be torn down, but that people might be afraid to come to the district and shop.

No evidence of health risks, however, has ever been presented by BNSF or Montana DEQ. Plumes have been detected on both sides of the Amtrak depot, which is the busiest long-distance train depot in the country, and under depot park, which the city will make its final payment on this fall.

Whitefish city councilors stepped lightly around the issue during their March 16 meeting. The city's public works department had received about eight or nine calls from residents wanting to know what was going on, and city manager Chuck Stearns had met with BNSF trainmaster Doug Schuch.

Councilor Turner Askew speculated that BNSF might want to install monitoring or clean-up wells in the area and "it would be easier to do that if they own the property."

The city shouldn't have to wait until it's invited to get involved, councilor John Muhlfeld said, because BNSF might want to purchase the properties to delay clean up.

Mayor Mike Jenson directed city staff to follow-up by contacting the railroad and Montana DEQ.