Old rail line sale should help develop huge site on Muskegon Lake
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:56 pm
https://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/202 ... -lake.html
Old rail line sale should help develop huge site on Muskegon Lake
Published: Mar. 29, 2023, 4:30 p.m.
Windward Pointe site on Muskegon Lake
By Lynn Moore | lmoore8@mlive.com
MUSKEGON, MI – After six years of effort, the city of Muskegon now is the owner of a rail line that will be removed to spur development of the largest undeveloped tract of vacant land on Muskegon Lake.
The city on Tuesday, March 28, closed on the purchase of two miles of CSX rail line stretching along Muskegon Lake from the corner of Shoreline Drive and West Western Avenue west nearly to the Cottage Grove Launch Ramp on Lakeshore Drive.
The city used $1.7 million in American Rescue Act Plan funding to purchase the abandoned rail line. It was motivated to make the purchase so that the Windward Pointe property, through which the rail line runs, could proceed with development.
The former long-time site of a paper mill that was served by the rail line, Windward Pointe is in the hands of a local investment group called Pure Muskegon that is seeking developers for the 120-acre property.
But the prospect that the railroad could essentially store rail cars on the property had made finding a developer extremely difficult, city officials said earlier.
Development plans for the site called Windward Pointe created several years ago suggest mixed use of the property, including housing, commercial and recreational features.
Related: Canals could be focal point of Muskegon’s Windward Pointe development
Most of the city’s expense of purchasing the rail line is expected to be reimbursed through tax capture once development of the site begins. City officials have expressed a willingness to reduce the amount it captures depending on the amount of access to Muskegon Lake is preserved for the public, City Manager Jonathan Seyferth wrote in a memo to the commission.
The city worked for more than five years to negotiate the complicated purchase agreement that the commission agreed to in December 2022, which then had to be approved by the federal Surface Transportation Board.
Seyferth’s announcement of the sale closing at the commission’s Tuesday meeting was met with applause.
“It is our understanding that in the next week or so CSX will begin the removal of the railroad tracks,” Seyferth said. “They’re going to start on the west end and work east.”
About a year ago, a $15 million state grant was awarded for cleanup of PFAS chemicals discovered at Windward Pointe. The so-called forever chemicals were left over from past industrial use and there are concerns about it leaching into Muskegon Lake.
There has been other industrial cleanup of the property, including removal of a lime pile and remediation of groundwater it had impacted and cleanup of hydrogen sulfide.
Old rail line sale should help develop huge site on Muskegon Lake
Published: Mar. 29, 2023, 4:30 p.m.
Windward Pointe site on Muskegon Lake
By Lynn Moore | lmoore8@mlive.com
MUSKEGON, MI – After six years of effort, the city of Muskegon now is the owner of a rail line that will be removed to spur development of the largest undeveloped tract of vacant land on Muskegon Lake.
The city on Tuesday, March 28, closed on the purchase of two miles of CSX rail line stretching along Muskegon Lake from the corner of Shoreline Drive and West Western Avenue west nearly to the Cottage Grove Launch Ramp on Lakeshore Drive.
The city used $1.7 million in American Rescue Act Plan funding to purchase the abandoned rail line. It was motivated to make the purchase so that the Windward Pointe property, through which the rail line runs, could proceed with development.
The former long-time site of a paper mill that was served by the rail line, Windward Pointe is in the hands of a local investment group called Pure Muskegon that is seeking developers for the 120-acre property.
But the prospect that the railroad could essentially store rail cars on the property had made finding a developer extremely difficult, city officials said earlier.
Development plans for the site called Windward Pointe created several years ago suggest mixed use of the property, including housing, commercial and recreational features.
Related: Canals could be focal point of Muskegon’s Windward Pointe development
Most of the city’s expense of purchasing the rail line is expected to be reimbursed through tax capture once development of the site begins. City officials have expressed a willingness to reduce the amount it captures depending on the amount of access to Muskegon Lake is preserved for the public, City Manager Jonathan Seyferth wrote in a memo to the commission.
The city worked for more than five years to negotiate the complicated purchase agreement that the commission agreed to in December 2022, which then had to be approved by the federal Surface Transportation Board.
Seyferth’s announcement of the sale closing at the commission’s Tuesday meeting was met with applause.
“It is our understanding that in the next week or so CSX will begin the removal of the railroad tracks,” Seyferth said. “They’re going to start on the west end and work east.”
About a year ago, a $15 million state grant was awarded for cleanup of PFAS chemicals discovered at Windward Pointe. The so-called forever chemicals were left over from past industrial use and there are concerns about it leaching into Muskegon Lake.
There has been other industrial cleanup of the property, including removal of a lime pile and remediation of groundwater it had impacted and cleanup of hydrogen sulfide.