RAIL-LINE OWNERS WANT TRACK BARRICADES REMOVED
Seattle Times, The (WA) (Published as THE SEATTLE TIMES) - June 4, 1997

Author/Byline: PEYTON WHITELY, SEATTLE TIMES EASTSIDE BUREAU
Edition: FINAL
Section: EAST
Page: B4
ISSAQUAH
New owners of a rail line along the east side of Lake Sammamish have asked that two barricades across the tracks be removed.
Warren and Vicki Beres, who put the chain-link fences across the tracks, refuse to take them down.
In a May 23 letter to the Bereses, Gene Duvernoy of the Land Conservancy of Seattle & King County says his group "hopes that you
share our desire to avoid legal action and requests your immediate cooperation by voluntarily removing the fences."
Duvernoy said the letter was hand-delivered by a messenger service.
But Vicki Beres said she never received the letter and vowed no trail would cross her property. "I won't stand for it. They're trying to take
my land," she said.
But yesterday, a possible solution to the standoff emerged from the Metropolitan King County Council's transportation committee.
Trail could be moved
Committee Chairman Rob McKenna suggested that in some areas the trail could be moved from the waterfront rail corridor to the
shoulder of East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast.
"I'd love to have the trail up there," said Vicki Beres. A decision on the trail's path is months away, however, and awaits the results of a
county study.
The Land Conservancy bought the former rail line, last used by trains in August, from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad for $1.5
million. King County has planned to make the 12-mile stretch part of its trail system since 1971.
Such trails have been in court before.
The nation's major rails-to-trails lawsuit was brought by Paul Preseault, a former airline pilot who lives along Lake Champlain near
Burlington, Vt., and who, like the Bereses, put a chain-link fence across tracks on his land. Burlington police took it down.
His wife parked her car across the tracks. The car was towed.
In 1986, a trail was opened across the Preseault property and is still there.
A 1990 Supreme Court ruling affirmed the government's power to convert rail lines to trails to keep the rights of way intact for future
transportation needs, a law known as "rail banking."
But in November, in what could benefit east Lake Sammamish property owners whose land would be crossed by a trail, Preseault won a
federal appellate-court decision that said property owners may be entitled to compensation.
Preseault continues to pursue his claim, but no dollar amount has been set.
Where this leaves the Lake Sammamish trail is uncertain.
Vicki Beres said more than 30,000 property owners around the country are expected to file claims over rails-to-trails conversions.
Duvernoy contends that even if such claims are filed by Lake Sammamish homeowners, they won't stop the trail.
The next step in the trail conversion will involve the federal Surface Transportation Board, which will decide whether to preserve the route
under the rail-banking statute.
If it happens that quickly, Duvernoy said it's possible the trail could be in place as early as next spring.
Duvernoy and Mark Johnsen, a Land Conservancy attorney, say rail-banking status would make moot any disputes over property owners'

 deeds because preserving the line for the public would supersede private rights.
The Bereses disagree.
But Nancy Beiter of the Surface Tranportation Board said the intent of the rail-banking laws passed by Congress was to put aside land
title disputes. However, "that's subject to all the provisions of the Preseault case, which muddies the waters," she added.
Caption: PHOTO: MAP1) RON WURZER / SEATTLE TIMES: WARREN AND VICKI BERES PUT UP A FENCE OVER THE RAILROAD
TRACK THAT RUNS ACROSS THEIR LAKE SAMMAMISH SHORE PROPERTY.2) SEATTLE TIMES: PROPOSED TRAIL (MAP NOT
AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY
Dateline: ISSAQUAH
Record: 2542855
Copyright: Copyright 1997 The Seattle Times