Three years after Mendocino Railway attempted to use eminent domain to acquire private property in Willits, the court decided in favor of the property owner. The trial wrapped up at the end of August last year, but Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Jeanine Nadel just issued her decision on Wednesday.
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The Great Redwood Trail Agency asked the Surface Transportation Board for an "adverse abandonment" of the Mendocino Railway line between Willits and Fort Bragg. The Agency thinks that if its application is approved, the Skunk Train would no longer be under STB jurisdiction, and would no longer have grounds for eminent domain claims.
The Surface Transportation gave the nod to a crucial step for turning the railroad line from Willits to just outside Eureka into a trail, hours before Senator Mike McGuire held a virtual town hall introducing the master plan for the project.
The decision clears a potential hurdle for plans to convert the abandoned rail line to a recreational trail envisioned to one day connect Humboldt and San Francisco bays.