Board of Directors Meeting   12/16/2025

Okay, let's get moving.

Good morning, everybody.

It is 9.33, so I hope I've given everybody enough time to get settled in and join this virtual meeting.

It is December 16th, and I'm going to call this virtual VPRA board meeting to order.

Sure, thank you and good morning everybody.

It's good to see you all.

From a safety point of view, we are all in separate locations, so I ask you to be aware of your surroundings.

Right now, take a look at where your exit route would be.

Also, think about your address.

A lot of people call 911, and when they say where you're located, people say, oh, I'm not sure.

So know what your address is, understand your activation route, and once again, remember that your safety is your number one priority.

Thank you, DJ.

I have a few introductory remarks, but I think I'm going to save that until after we

do our roll call and public comment to kick us off as a group.

But I just wanted to say welcome.

Thank you for attending this virtual meeting.

We have a lot on the agenda today, so we'll try to move as swiftly as possible.

And since we're virtual, let's make sure we're all using the kind of raise your hand feature on Teams so we know who to call on.

That would be helpful.

With that, to make sure we have a quorum, I would ask Mary Estelle to take a roll call attendance.

Ms. Bushue?

Here.

Ms. Doersch?

Here.

Ms. Doersch?

Oh, thank you.

Mr.

Flowers?

That's okay.

Mr.

Flowers?

Here.

Mr. Jordan?

Ms. Lawrence?

Here.

Ms. Mitchell?

Ms. Mitchell?

Ms. Rhinehart?

Here.

Ms. Spears?

Here.

And Mr. Watkins?

Thank you, Mary Estelle.

We are up to agenda item number five, which is our public comment.

So I am going to walk this board through our policy.

Our policy for virtual meetings is to allow members of the public to comment on any topic per person.

The public comment period is limited for virtual meetings of this one.

We solicit public comment online, and then we read them to the board.

We received over 1500 individual comments, including a petition that included 800 of individual names and email addresses.

These have been related to proposed transaction on this day.

We shared my comments with you already.

Others have continued to come in, and so setting up shared ties, you will have access to each and every one of them.

We don't have time to read every comment.

Yeah, it definitely is.

Okay, let me try closing things out.

Okay, technical difficulties.

Does it sound any better now?

Anyone?

Goodness.

Oh, there we go.

I'm back in business.

Okay, thank you.

Please don't hesitate to let me know.

Again, DJ, I'll charge you with that if there's any feedback on my end.

Will do.

Thank you.

So back to our kind of virtual policy for public comment, I wanted to be really clear so everybody understands the comments that we've received and you'll have the shared drive to access every single one of them.

We're going to summarize.

I'm going to try to summarize for you this morning.

Approximately 54% of the comments expressed concern about the proposed transaction and many of the letters and emails that have come in are similar or identical.

And these comments asked the VPRA board to delay a vote until more information could be shared with the public overwhelmingly.

This concern and or opposition included letters from delegate Doris Oates, delegate Tony Witt, the Alliance for Shenandoah Valley, they have an 11 member board, the Town of Timberville, the Shenandoah Valley Trail Exploratory Partnership,

the mayor of Toms Brook and the mayor of Edinburgh.

And specifically, in summary, these letters encourage the delay or a no vote, expressing concerns such as why was the three-year study process being led by VDOT to include public involvement stopped in favor of choosing a more expensive option, a rail with trail option,

Why is the VPRA being asked to carry out this project when there's not currently passenger rail in the region?

There are several entities with experience and involvement in the Shenandoah Rail Trail.

Why did they not warrant consideration?

These entities included Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Conservation Fund, the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission,

Why has the Secretary's Office presented a new proposal to CTB that was not publicly vetted?

The proposal seems to require that the existing rail infrastructure remain in place, effectively forcing a rail with trail scenario, as previously outlined on the study, and that poses steep hurdles to success of the trail.

In addition,

We received many letters and emails of support.

Approximately 46% of the comments received thus far have provided support for the transaction.

These included comments from the Shenandoah County Planning Commission, Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors, Valley Railroad Company, Virginia Rail Policy Institute, Luray Caverns, Virginia Cattlemen's Association, Folsom Propane and Oil, Shenandoah County Farm Bureau, which has 1400 members,

The Huff Corporation, Stone Consulting, and other rail operators.

These letters and emails of support identified benefits such as moving quickly on this proposal will finally show the community action on the trail construction after years of study.

The restoration of reliable freight rail service will support agricultural, industrial, and commercial shippers in the Shenandoah Valley.

The development of potential excursion train operations will highlight the region's history, natural beauty, and cultural assets.

The introduction of rail bike operations will expand recreational access, attract tourism, and promote public engagement with rail infrastructure.

Preserving the rail corridor ensures flexibility for future transportation needs while maximizing public investment and community benefits.

and sharing gratitude for preserving rail and moving quickly to develop the trail.

We have thanked all of those who have provided comments and assured every member that has submitted an email or a letter that their comments are being reviewed and considered and shared with the board.

So we're going to talk more about these comments during agenda item number 12, but under our virtual policy for sharing all of the public comments that have been received thus far.

That concludes my presentation on public comment.

and again, all board members will have the shared file to access every single comment going forward.

So with that, we will move on to agenda item number six.

Second.

Second.

Thank you, Charlie.

And who seconded?

Perfect.

Neal, we're putting you as seconding.

Thank you.

If there's no discussion on the minutes, I would ask for a vote.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Any abstentions?

Thank you.

The minutes have been approved.

And that moves us into agenda item number seven.

We have a couple exciting announcements today.

I want to start actually, I want to backtrack a little bit and start by just sharing a public thank you to our outgoing board member Thelma Drake.

I know that this board knows that Thelma resigned from the board.

She's pursuing another professional opportunity, but she's been on our board since July of 2022 and very impactful and it was a pleasure to work with her.

I know that we've all kind of sent and shared those sentiments along the way, but I wanted to say that publicly and thank Thelma for her time and service.

Following upon that, we are really excited to introduce someone that you know.

Jennifer Mitchell is now our ex-officio non-voting member representing Amtrak.

Jennifer, thank you for joining us today and welcome.

I don't think that I need to explain who Jennifer is, but she's currently Executive Vice President for Strategy and Planning for Amtrak.

having joined Amtrak back in late 2024.

But from April 2022 through November 2024, she served as Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.

And prior to being at FRA, she was the Director here at DRPT and served as the Board Chair of BPRA.

So she knows the work of this organization well.

And Jennifer, we just wanted to welcome you.

I wanted to turn it over and see if you wanted to say a few words.

We're happy to have you.

No, thank you.

And I'm actually on a train on Amtrak right now.

So apologies that my audio was going in and out earlier, but I am thrilled to be here and I really look forward to working with everybody.

And also wanted to send my regards for Bruno, who, as you may know, is retiring at the end of this year.

So, but anyway, I'm looking forward to working with you all.

And I know that the mission of VPRA is very important and hope that I can bring a great perspective and partner partnership from Amtrak as well.

Thank you, Jennifer, and welcome.

We're glad to have you back and I can't wait to work with you.

We also have another announcement which I also think needs no introduction, but I wanted to formally introduce VPRA's new CFO, Laura Farmer.

Laura joined VPRA just this month as CFO, having most recently served as CFO at VDOT.

She was CFO of VDOT for six years and responsible for the agency's $8.9 billion annual financial planning, capital investment, fiscal management, public-private partnerships, tolling programs, all of the above.

We are so grateful that Laura decided to stay in the realm of state government joining us here at VPRA.

And Laura, I'll turn it over to you to say a few words.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Today is day five, so I'm still learning.

I'm really excited about the opportunity, and I hope that my experience will be beneficial to the VPRA, and I thank everybody for their kindness as I've come on board.

Thanks, Laura.

Welcome.

So that brings us down to agenda item number nine, appointment of new officers.

Upon having lots of conversations in the last few weeks and as Thelma has moved on from the board, we are going to elect a new board vice chair.

So moved.

Second.

Thank you.

I'll go with Beth, but thank you all around.

Any discussion?

Aye.

Any opposition?

Any abstentions?

Thank you.

And thank you, Neal, for your willingness and ability to serve in a higher and new capacity.

Thank you so much.

It's just a matter to work with the Board and the Board.

Thank you.

Thank you, DJ.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Sorry, who was the second?

Susan.

Oh, thank you, Susan.

Any discussion?

All in favor of Laura Farmer serving as our new Board Treasurer, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstentions?

Congratulations, Laura.

On day five, you get two new jobs.

Thanks.

We appreciate it.

Wonderful.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And again, good morning, everybody.

This is going to be the world's fastest executive director's report.

We actually considered not doing one just because we had sent one out about two weeks ago.

But I thought it was important because as of the end of November, when we sent

our monthly report out and it's also posted on our website as you all know at that point we didn't have ridership numbers so we figured we would just take a brief minute or two to update you on the ridership numbers which are positive if we go to the next slide and then also since we're here it's just been

Incredible to see the continued progression of our construction projects.

I mean we had meeting after meeting with this board for years where we talked about planning and design and getting ready and now dirt is truly moving and we go out and do site visits and just month after month we see how much progress is being made.

So I wanted to just take a brief moment to share those pictures with you as well.

But here are the ridership numbers for October that have come in.

As you see, they are an increase again over the previous year.

It's an increase of about 5.3% year over year, 1.4% just for the month.

I know it doesn't look like it's that much of an increase, but if you consider the fact that there was the significant CSX derailment that stopped a lot of the service to Newport News towards the end of the month and early November, we're really excited to continue to see positive growth in ridership.

As we enter November, December, we were confident that continued growth will continue.

Continued growth will continue.

That's the Department of Redundancy Department.

And then, of course, we're watching very closely for January because in January we're going to have the service changes that are aligned with our construction of the Long Bridge.

So just a reminder, if we go to the next slide, the service changes that we've partnered with Amtrak and VARIA and CSX, this is the map that shows all of those changes, the areas that are affected by those changes.

We highlight some of the projects north of Washington, DC.

You see in the upper right-hand corner Long Island Railroad, Hudson Tunnel, Porter North Bridge,

Frederick Douglas Tunnel in Maryland.

All of these projects are being coordinated so we can maximize these outages that start in January.

I just wanted to show you all really the impact of the schedules.

It impacts the Floridian which comes from Chicago, the Crescent that goes down to New Orleans, the Cardinal Odyssey that also goes to Chicago.

So,

It really has a widespread impact and I just want to take a moment to thank the board for their support and also thank our partners Amtrak, CSX, VRE for really allowing this to happen.

Getting these work windows is absolutely imperative for the continued progress on the Long Bridge project.

So if we go to the next slide, we'll just go through these quickly.

These are just pictures of construction starting from the west and moving east.

Here are some pictures of the New River Valley construction.

You can see it's moving very rapidly.

Norfolk Southern has done a great job of pushing that forward.

We have members of the CTB that are in that area three times a week, I think is safe to say, and we get constant reports of, hey, it's looking great.

Hey, it's looking great.

So knock on wood, progress continues.

The next picture you'll see is a picture of the, I believe it's the Long Bridge project if you go to the next slide.

So here's the work that's being done on the right hand side on the crash walls.

As you may recall, when you're pulling in on the north side going into La Font Plaza, you go underneath the Portals buildings.

We have to fortify the crash walls there.

It's been amazing to see how that has progressed over the last couple months.

So there's a picture of how that's going.

They put the forms in place and then they come in and pour.

Again, exciting to see.

And then we're also, this out package, we continue to do work as we prepare the finalization of the scope validation.

On the next slide, you'll see photos of the Alexandria Rail Project.

We broke ground on fourth track.

A number of you were at that groundbreaking.

The ceremonies are fine.

I think the actual construction is more exciting, but we're all different in that phase.

But again, continued progress and strong partnership with VRE, who's doing the work on the Alexandria Station there and also King Commonwealth.

We'll see a lot more construction there going forward.

And then finally, I believe the next slide shows you a picture of what's happening at the Franconia Springfield Bypass.

We actually have a site visit tomorrow with the CEOs from both Herzog and Flatiron to show the progress there.

All good news, people go by on the train and they say, wow, what's happening here, which is really what we want to see.

So just quick advertisement for the work that's actually being done.

We're excited to see it.

And again, we appreciate your support.

Any questions for me on once again, the fastest executive director's report ever.

Okay.

And when it gets a little warmer, we'll be scheduling site visits again for you all, if you want to come out and see the construction progress as well.

So stay tuned for that.

Thanks, DJ.

That brings us to agenda item number 11.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Can we go to the next slide, please?

All right, so we have this sort of odd legal requirement that we need to deal with today.

The context is we are in the process of acquiring all the slices and slivers of parcels that we're impacting with our projects so that we can carry out our construction projects.

I think we've told y'all many times before, but I'll say it again, we always seek to avoid going to condemnation.

We do our best to have voluntary transactions.

90%

don't or the vast majority wind up not ever having any documents filed in court for condemnation.

And when we do actually file documents in court to condemn property to acquire them for our projects, 90% of those typically would settle before we get to an actual trial and condemnation.

That's at least based on our experience with VDOT and other transportation entities throughout the Commonwealth.

So what is it that we need to deal with here today?

We have several projects we're requiring property, and there's this odd statute and Title 15.2 of the Code of Virginia that requires a public hearing and a resolution before a public body can condemn property.

The attorneys on the call might be looking at that code section saying, well, Title 15.2 applies to the localities and VPRA is not a locality.

And that's very true.

However, this particular statute was updated recently and localities are political subdivisions and VPRA actually is a political subdivision.

So while we're not a local government, we are under the umbrella of political subdivisions of the Commonwealth.

And so when the statute is updated, it applied a requirement to have a resolution

authorizing the acquisition of properties before we as a political subdivision could go and actually condemn properties.

So if you looked at the draft resolution, there's a list of several projects that were in the throes.

We're ready to acquire properties.

We've acquired quite a few already.

None have gone to condemnation.

None of the private parcels have gone to condemnation yet.

Overall, we're impacting about 160 parcels.

I do want to remind folks we're not taking any homes, right?

There's one and only one business that's being impacted.

It's enterprise rental car that will need to be relocated because of our significant impacts to a parking area that we're going to use as a construction lay down area during the life of a project.

Other than that, we have no relocations, right?

We have just slices and slivers.

We're taking temporary construction easements or requiring drainage easements.

or in some cases aerial easements where our structures go over the airspace of some corner of a parcel somewhere or something like that.

And then you can see the bottom bullet right now we have between three and eight parcels that we think we have the potential for condemnation proceedings.

Some of those are what we call friendly condemnations where we have a local government up in Northern Virginia that says, hey, we'd like to give you the easements you need, VPRA, for your project.

We don't think we have the legal authority to do that, absent a condemnation proceeding.

So while we're cooperative, we're still headed to court in condemnation with those properties.

There's another example where we're proceeding against a homeowner's association.

Because in order to get the little easement we need for our project, we'd have to get two thirds of the homeowners that are part of this homeowners association to agree.

And we've just simply not been able to corral all those signatures.

So we're headed to condemnation for that easement that we need to acquire only because we can't find all the

We can't get all the homeowners to be, two thirds of the homeowners to be cooperative and grant us voluntarily the easement that we need.

So that's sort of the big picture of what we're actually doing here.

Acquisition one is, but what will be asked of you in a moment is to make a motion to grant VPRA the authority to go acquire the properties needed for the projects that have been and that you've heard about over the years and have been in our pipeline forever and we're out there

progressing.

The other thing that I need to mention is that the Constitution of Virginia requires us to take only that which we need and nothing more.

Our right-of-way team has done a tremendous job working with our engineering team and making sure, okay, do we need this parcel for the project?

Has there been some redesign?

Are we no longer impacting this parcel?

Or

We don't go for ownership of a parcel, for example, where an easement will do.

We take not only the smallest geography but also the smallest interest as we go out and acquire these properties.

Thank you, Michael.

Madam Chair, just a quick question for Michael, and maybe I missed this in the presentation, so my apologies, Michael.

But I assume we've completed our due diligence, including the appraisals for all these sites, and we're ready to proceed forward with the offers, or have proceed forward with the offers, and the next step would be

Potentially condemnation depending on how those negotiations go.

You're absolutely correct about the process.

These projects are in various stages of design, so some parcels have not been appraised yet.

We are, because we have federal funding in our program, we are under the Uniform Relocation Act, which is super prescriptive.

And Charlie, we actually have to do two appraisals because of our unique enabling act.

And we make just compensation offers based on the higher appraisal.

But the process, you're exactly right.

We go through the survey, the plat generation, the appraisal,

That informs the offer of just compensation.

And in many cases, those offers, you're right, they have gone out.

And the next step is either getting to that voluntary transaction or filing documents in court to initiate condemnation.

Great.

Thank you.

Yeah, Michael, can you expand on the condo association?

Have they not been responsive?

Or what is that situation?

And then would you have to use eminent domain if you don't hear from them?

So it's it's a homeowners association.

It's happily not a condo association.

They're different.

And I'm sure Mr. Payne, Mr. Payne could tell you how they're different, but I don't know that I could.

However,

The issue has been a responsiveness of the homeowners.

We've reached out and only a few, as I understand it, only a few have responded.

We've not been able to get all enough of the homeowners to respond and agree to the easement that we need.

And again, not taking anybody's homes.

This is Cynthia Lawrence.

I have another question just to refine that definition.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any further discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Is anyone opposed?

Any abstentions?

Aye, Sandy.

Thanks, Sandy.

Thank you, everyone.

That motion passes.

And with that, we will move to agenda item number 12.

If I could, DJ, just a second.

Who seconded that motion?

I'm sorry.

I did.

I did.

Could you tell me your name?

I can't see your face.

Thank you, Mr. Delandro.

I'm so sorry.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mary Stowe.

Thank you.

If we could just go to the next slide, I'll be talking.

We just have one slide.

I'll be doing a lot of talking and we'll only be looking at this one slide.

So let me just start out.

Look, I know this is something that's coming to the board fresh and it's something that you haven't seen.

We've been in business since 2021 and when this leadership started, we

Put transparency and integrity and trust really at the forefront of everything we do.

And I think we have worked very hard to come up with a good track record with this board that when we bring things to you, you're not surprised and we justify them.

We've worked hard with our partners, Amtrak, the VRE, the freight railroads.

We've worked hard with the communities.

We've been in situations where we've had to make project changes.

I think about New River Valley where folks were really excited to go to a mall and we very honestly and upfrontly worked with them and said, look, that's not going to work.

Here's why.

Here's how we're going to change it.

We've worked with communities to talk about, we need to build Long Bridge and we know there's a real big tree there.

What can we do to get this tree out of our footprint?

We have had in the four and a half years we've been here a lot of very challenging obstacles that we have been able to overcome through working honestly, openly and transparently.

And the fact that we're bringing this to our board for the first time, it's atypical, but I think you'll understand why we're doing it.

And I think you'll understand the path forward.

So I just wanted to say that to point out that it's not lost on me that until a week or so ago, a lot of you didn't know anything about this.

DJ, can I jump in really quick before you keep going?

Because I noticed Jennifer has her hand raised, so I want to make sure she didn't have a question or comment before we dive into this.

Jennifer?

Sorry.

Sorry.

I can't see slides on it.

I don't know if it's just me, but I only see the public comment slide.

Sorry.

Thank you for letting us know.

Okay.

Super.

Thank you.

So we, the Shenandoah Valley Rail Trail is a project that has been around for a while and it's been contemplated for a while.

I'll start at the end of the story and then I'll come back and explain.

What we are being asked to do at VPRA is the Commonwealth Transportation Board is considering reassigning that project to us so we can oversee the facilitation of both a trail and rail being constructed or maintained in this 48 mile corridor and I'll give more detail.

What we're voting on today is just a budget amendment that would allow that money to transfer to VPRA if and only if the Commonwealth Transportation Board decided to move that project to us.

That process is underway.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board workshopped it about a week ago.

There were a lot of public comments, as Chair Robinson talked about earlier.

Whether they're going to make that decision or not, that's entirely up to them.

They meet again in January.

What we're voting on today is we're voting on or what we're proposing is that you all approve a budget amendment that would allow the transfer of those funds to VPRA if and only with the CTB approved that transaction.

What we're not voting on is a final resolution of the project.

What would happen, and we'll talk about that in the future, if they approve it, the project would come to us, and there'd be a whole process of things that we would go through to make sure that this is the right path for the communities and for the public.

But let me step back.

So, Shenandoah Valley Rail Trail started long ago in conversations.

Back in the late 2010s, the General Assembly asked for a feasibility study.

that said hey we've got this corridor it's not really that well used for rail is there is the feasibility tool for converting it to trail they issued a report in 2021 that said yes you could do a rail you could do a rail and trail VPRA was actually mentioned in that report as a possibility to own the infrastructure so our involvement was contemplated way back then

In the meantime, in 2023, the General Assembly provided $35 million, and that $35 million was specifically allocated to the Shenandoah Valley Rail Trail Project for land acquisition, planning, and site development efforts that would not preclude rail transportation in the corridor.

So it was for a trail that would not preclude rail transportation.

VDOT has done three separate studies.

They've done a whole lot of public involvement.

And then the third phase of that study came out just in November.

We were approached by the Secretary's office and they said, look, we have the opportunity to take this $35 million and partner with the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation, which is a congressionally recognized, and I'm getting out of my legal realm, so I may ask Mr. Westerman, but they have congressional status to preserve that area.

And they're very interested in working with the communities and their partners to keep rail in place,

and also establish a trail there.

So we were approached by the Secretary's office.

We said we see a future where that quarter could be used for passenger rail.

I want to be very clear that future is not 2032.

That future is probably not 2042.

But if you look at the map, Front Royal on the top right, that's the end of the quarter and then the quarter goes over to Strasburg and then down to Broadway.

Again, no time soon, but VRE, as you know, we purchased the Manassas Line.

That goes out to Broad Run.

There have been people clamoring for continued service west for VRE, out to Gainesville, out to Front Royal.

If that were to come to fruition, this could be an opportunity for passenger rail then to be extended through a new market, down to Broadway, down a little bit further to Harrisonburg, which would be a hugely underserved market.

Let me say it again.

This isn't in the next 10 years, probably not in the next 20 years, but moving forward, this transaction would allow the Commonwealth to preserve the opportunity for rail in that area.

As Chair Robinson pointed out, there are mixed emotions on that.

A lot of folks don't want the rail.

A lot of folks feel like, and the VDOT study said this, that if you are going to do a trail

and rail that the two of those together would be about $700 million.

That's a lot of money and it probably would never get done.

However, there are others that come in and say, look, we can do it for much cheaper than that.

We need to look at the price.

So there are a lot of decisions that need to continue to be made going forward.

But we were asked to partner with the foundation to move this project forward.

Went to the CTB last week.

As the Chair talked about, there were a lot of public comments on both sides.

So what we are looking to do is just prepare ourselves.

If the Commonwealth Transportation Board decides to give this project to us, we want to have the budget amendment in place so we can accept the money.

and then if that were to happen we would work with the foundation, work with the communities, do public hearings, make sure we understood what the foundation was going to deliver, make sure the communities understood what the foundation was going to deliver and then we would come back to the board briefly on what we were doing with those agreements and then determine the path forward.

So that's in summary what we're looking to do today.

So DJ, real quick, Charlie Payne here.

And I appreciate your presentation.

I think it's a very good one.

And I like the concept of basically reserving the ability to extend rail in the future, which gives us lots of flexibility.

At a minimum, the benefit to the community is the trail will be built.

Thank you.

And I'm glad you brought that up.

The Foundation has committed to building the trail.

Additionally, part of why the Secretary decided to bring us in is there would be provisions in the agreement that if for some reason the Foundation failed to build the trail or didn't fulfill their commitments, we would have the right to then

to bring the right-of-way back to us and into our ownership.

As I think folks know, we've purchased five different rail lines and we now have them either for active rail use or for future rail use like the S Line or even like the Commonwealth Quarter across the state.

We have the right to build them up and grow them in the future.

This would be yet another rail line in our portfolio that we could use.

The way the agreement is contemplated is this $35 million would go to, well, the rail line would be sold by Norfolk Southern.

They own it now.

They would sell it to the foundation for $23 million, which would come from the grant funding.

So we would basically pass money through the foundation.

And then the difference between the 23 and the 35, that money would be available to the foundation on a reimbursable basis for building the trail.

So they would do trail development, trail building, and they could be reimbursed up to that, whatever that money is left.

And just to be clear, through the grant, we would have some hooks, if you will, to control and ensure that the trail is built.

That's correct.

And there would be hooks in the grant that said, hey, you need to start work on the trail by this date, and you need to make this much progress by this date.

So yes, we would have all of those.

And those are yet to be negotiated.

None of those are in place.

That's part of the conversation that will take place over the coming months.

Again, if and only if the CTB decides to move this to us.

Great.

Thank you.

Thanks so much, DJ.

I'm interested in understanding how the public participation, public comment process is going to work going forward.

I mean, I just think it's a credit to VPRA and further proof of how you work with the community that with all the incredible right-of-way acquisition we have, we have three to eight of potentially tiny

segments that would go to condemnation because you guys work with affected communities, work with affected properties, and I think that's one of the hallmarks of how we advance projects.

Yeah, and I promise you and the board that that is not going to change.

So it's early, we were just kind of brought into this, but the way I envision it is the folks that have pushed back against this proposed transaction, many of them want the trail.

And a lot of them don't mind the trail and the rail, but they absolutely want the trail.

And they think that if the Commonwealth pushes for rail and trail that it will never get done.

So a big part of that community conversation is going to be making sure that they understand that the trail will be done and there are hooks that make sure the trail gets done.

Now there is a small group.

There are small groups of folks that don't want the rail either.

The rail hasn't been in service for a long time and there are folks in small towns that say they don't want the horns blowing and they don't and so if this comes to us we need to make sure that we understand all of those concerns and then figure out how we're going to mitigate them.

At this point we

Again, this is new.

We've got a couple thousand comments that we're working through over the last week or so.

But again, no surprises.

We're going to work with the community, talk to them, find out what their concerns are, and do what we can with the Foundation to mitigate those concerns.

Yes, thank you, DJ, and thank you for explaining this.

So, you know, this is very controversial.

I think one of the reasons is because it came up so quickly.

Delegate Wilt from Rockingham, he didn't know anything about this.

He's been following it really closely until it came up to the CDP, I think last week, as you mentioned.

So, and then he thought there's a lot of elected officials were kind of blindsided by this.

and the Rush.

So I'm a little bothered by that.

I know that's a TTP issue, not the DPRA, but I did think we need more information about what this is really about.

I've been following this issue a little bit prior to this coming up and you're correct.

The locals wanted the trail, as I understand it, but the concern was the funding because even for a trail, I think it's pretty costly.

So

I'll chime in there.

Thanks, Sandy.

So what I want to say to that is that there have been a lot of people working on this for a long time, and as you might imagine, VDOT, in the process of the study, has been working with the Secretary's Office and with the Governor's Office and with multiple consultants and partners along the way.

There were some of the folks that were on the list in support of this project in the comments that you received that originally signed on to support for the trail because they believed that was the only option.

But when they realized there was still the option to preserve the rail, they wanted to make sure that their support was heard loud and clear that if there's the option to preserve the rail, we want to do that.

And again, it doesn't mean that the rail will happen immediately.

But what it does mean is that the trail can get started immediately.

So the benefit of doing both in terms of like trail and rail and not one or the other is that there's no delay for waiting on an abandonment or a rail banking process.

This agreement will lay out a path for the foundation to begin on the trail immediately while the longer process to study the pursuance of rail can be ongoing.

So for that reason, there was only one organization, the foundation, that was a willing and able partner to work on both at the same time.

And so the decision was made to bring this to CTB once all those conversations had been had.

So as DJ said in the very beginning, in a perfect world, you're absolutely right, we would have already had a lot of public meetings.

There was also a misconception that VDOT was going to build this trail and that's just not going to happen.

That would cost a lot more.

BDOT and the Secretary's Office have been working to find a way forward to make this happen.

And I think this is the best of both worlds, where we can preserve rail under the VPRA's mission, while also getting a trail started right away for the community.

And I think as we go through the public meeting process, all of that will come forth.

and input will be received and this board will have another chance to come back.

There's a lot of ifs here.

If CTB does in fact agree to transfer this project to us in January, then those public meetings begin.

There would be a term sheet and an agreement being worked on and after all the feedback and public comment, the project and the agreement would come back to this board for final approval.

So for that reason, I believe there's going to be a lot of transparency going forward in the process.

Let me, if I may, just add two points to that.

Point number one, one of the reasons why the foundation was chosen as a partner here is because they have expressed evidence that number one, they can move quickly.

Number two, they have access to a lot of donors and a lot of funding that will help build this more rapidly.

And the second piece of that point is more of a selfish point.

No money will come from VPRA.

So the only money that VPRA will have anything to do with on this whole project

is the transferring of the $35 million that was already appropriated for the General Assembly specifically for the use of the trails.

So if that's transferred to us, we can't use it on Long Bridge or anything else.

We will monitor that spending and then that's it.

So it's not like we will own the project and people will come back to us and say, hey, we need money to build this portion of the project.

Yeah, DJ, you beat me to it.

And the community benefit with the trail district and the ability for us to have control that process and ensure that it occurs.

And then obviously our reservations regarding future right away for any sort of rail planning to me is a benefit.

Thank you, Charlie.

And thank you, DJ, for reminding us about the money.

That's a really important piece.

Every penny of the residual funding that comes to us will go to build the trail.

And then the development and studying of the rail is a future process.

Are there any other questions or discussion?

Right, this is John Watkins.

I wanted to ask DJ with regard, I read Wilkes letter a couple of times and the implication even in the first paragraph is that the foundation would own the right-of-way.

No, actually the foundation would own the right of way and we prefer that because they are going to own it.

They're going to be responsible for the maintenance.

I mean, assuming this goes forward as planned, they're going to be responsible for making sure that the current infrastructure doesn't get any worse.

So they've got to maintain it up to at least its current standards.

They will maintain all of the liability risk.

They will maintain all of the maintenance risk.

The only scenario under which we would

We don't know that much about the corridor yet, but we would have very significant easement interest.

so that we could introduce passenger rail at our election in the future if we deemed it beneficial to the Commonwealth.

So we would have meaningful rights in the corridor.

That's a little more realistic.

Our role is dealing with rail.

Yes sir, great question.

Anyone else?

Second.

Thank you, Charlie.

Neal, thank you.

Any further discussion?

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Is anyone opposed?

Any abstentions?

Aye.

Sandy?

Thank you, Sandy.

Motion carries.

Thank you all.

That actually brings us to agenda item number 13.

which is adjournment.

This meeting went fairly quickly and I can't thank you all enough for joining us virtually during this very busy December holiday season.

With that, I will wish everyone happy holidays and thank you for your time.

We of course will, in the nature of transparency, we'll do just what we said and we will keep you apprised of all additional comments that come in on this project and on any others.

We'll continue to share with you any feedback we receive.

Thank you for your time.

Happy Holidays.

Bye everyone.