Royston City Council to Vote Today on Railroad Crossings Issue

Royston’s City Council and mayor will meet for a called session this afternoon and are expected to vote on whether to close four railroad crossings through the center of town at the request of Hartwell Railroad officials.

Hartwell Railroad is insisting the City close the crossings at SR17/Lee St., Carlton St., Bowers St., and Tony Jones St.

At a public hearing on May 12th, the Council and mayor heard from citizens, most against the idea of closing those crossings.

Royston Fire Chief Matt Parham said closings will delay the efforts of public safety personnel to reach emergencies.
And Police Chief Donnie Boleman said closing the crossings would cause enormous traffic problems at the other intersections in the center of town.

“I’m just very worried that if we close these crossings and force our residents and commercial traffic directly into high-volume intersections, not counting emergency vehicles, we’re talking about tripling the volume of traffic at these intersections,” he said. “We’re going to see many more accidents and people injured.”

Additionally, local business owners pointed out impact the closings would have on the City of Royston’s economic development plans.

Representatives from the Hartwell Railroad had been invited to the public hearing to present their case, but they were a no show.

And City Manager Ed Andrews told the council that throughout his attempts to come to a compromise with Hartwell Railroad, they have been unwilling to do anything.

“I went back to Mr. Bishop and explained to him that what he’s doing is closing for crossings that would have an economic impact on this City, and for us to explore some options that would be feasible,” Andrews said. “On 18 December, I had a phone call with Mr. Dave Bishop and discussed further options and specifics at each of these crossings. Still, they indicated no options would be explored at that time.”

Royston Mayor David Jordan indicated the City plans to fight the closings all the way to the State Attorney General’s office if necessary.

Today’s called meeting takes place at 2p at Royston City Hall.