After an in-depth legal review, Eldred Township supervisors say proposed Rails to Trails land is privately owned.

Eldred Township solicitor Michael Gaul read a four-page statement on behalf of the supervisors at their meeting Wednesday night. The statement said that a review involved an abstraction of the relevant chains of title, communication with the Wildlands Conservancy, and review of township information and documentation.

Gaul said this particular Rails to Trails property involves land that was owned or had rights of way associated with a rail line from Kunkletown to Palmerton. It was originally assembled by the New York and Pennsylvania Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta Co. for the purpose of transporting raw materials to make bricks.

The rail line impacted four properties known today as the Tanzosh property, the Barlieb property, the Kunkletown Rod and Gun Club, and property owned by Eldred Township. The township focused its review on the Tanzosh and Barlieb properties.

Wildlands Conservancy acquired the property through a deed from the Chestnut Ridge Railway Co. on Oct. 22, 1990, and recorded on Oct. 31, 1990. By a quitclaim deed on March 17, 2000, Wildlands granted and conveyed interest in the Rails to Trails Property within Eldred Township to the township.

The problem was that Chestnut Ridge Railway Co. did not own the land. They had an easement, and had abandoned the rail line long before the transaction.

“The railway’s right of way was only an easement for a railroad line, and not a complete fee simple ownership interest in the associated area of real property,” Gaul said.

Under Pennsylvania case law, there has to be an agreement to maintain the right of way and an agreement that re-entry of the easement is expressed by the party wanting the easement. If these two requirements are not met, then the property reverts back to the land owner, Gaul said. From his research, neither of these requirements were met by the railway company.

“The township board of supervisors does not intend to expend further township resources on attempting to assert a right of way over the Tanzosh and Barlieb segments for purposes of establishing a Rails to Trails Project in the areas of these properties,” Gaul said.

“Finally, we note that the board is supportive of Rails to Trails use generally and would like to see trail use established over the former Chestnut Ridge Railway right of way. The board, however, believes that the acquisition of the necessary property rights to establish such a project is a matter between the private property owners impacted by such a project and the Wildlands or whomever is the facilitator of such a project, and not the township.”

Wildlands Conservancy is currently working on a feasibility study on whether or not to pursue a Rails to Trails Project from Kunkletown to Palmerton.