Once Seminole Gulf Railway finalizes the sale of 11.4 miles of right-of-way for the Bonita Estero Rail Trail, a new kind of negotiation begins.
As many as 50 landowners will be eligible to sue the federal government for compensation once the right-of-way is sold to the Land for Public Trust. The $60 million sale is expected to be official later this summer or early fall.
Estero has pledged $19.8 million and Collier County $11.6 million. Bonita Springs residents will vote August 18 to approve a bond issue to pay its $28 million share.
The St. Louis-based law firm of LewisRice visited Fort Myers this week to give a presentation to landowners who might be eligible to sue the government.
Attorneys Lindsay Brinton and Meghan Largent specialize in compensation claims for eligible landowners owning properties along railroad rights-of-way that have been turned into trails. They have helped property owners receive compensation in Sarasota, Pinellas and Miami-Dade counties.
“We are not anti-trail in any way,” Brinton said. “Our position is that if a landowner’s property is taken, they’re entitled to just compensation.”
The federal government is the only entity that will have to pay the cost of the land.
Seminole Gulf Railway right-of-way was created in the late 1800s when the railroad was known as Seaboard and was a patchwork, Brinton said. The railroad purchased some of the right-of-way, in other portions landowners gave the railroad the right to use the easement as long as it was a railroad. The landowners, under Florida law, would get the land back if the easement was used for something else.
Congress passed the National Trails System Act in 1968 and added a rail section in 1983 that said the Interstate Commerce Commission can transfer land previously used for railroad transport to public and private entities to maintain as trails. The easements don’t have to be given back to the land owners.
The Supreme Court in 1990 ruled that federal law did trump state law, but the property owners needed to be compensated. That’s where Brinton and Largent, who take the cases on a contingency fee, come in. Litigation lasts about two years, Brinton said.
LewisRice has about 12 clients currently. Some of their original clients had to drop out when the sale slightly changed the trail boundaries.
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