Oil City Redevelopment Authority members had many railroad-related questions for Carl Belke, retired president of the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad, at their meeting Wednesday.
The panel asked Belke, who is now a consultant for Western New York, about the feasibility of acquiring a property along the river in the East End of Oil City that once had a roundhouse and small switch yard owned by the railroad.
Authority chairman Alan Schiller noted that the several acre site is undoubtedly a brownfield and unable to be used or developed until it is cleaned up. He said the authority, unlike a private entity, would be able to secure a grant to clean up the site.
John Phillips, the president and CEO of the Oil Region Alliance, said the ORA currently has funds available for assessing brownfields, which would be the first step in remediation regardless of who is doing the clean up.
Phillips said the ORA has successfully cleaned up an area near the railroad tracks that was a junkyard in Oil City and has worked with the railroad on the McClintock Trail that goes along the railroad bridge over Oil Creek in Oil City by the Dollar General store.
Another topic that came up in the discussion with Belke was whether the Wye Bridge could be incorporated into the trail system, a proposal first made about 15 years ago that was unsuccessful at that time.
“It’s a unique bridge and is nationally renowned among railroad fans,” Belke said of the Wye Bridge.
He added that the railroad’s many attempts to keep people off the bridge have been unsuccessful and the bridge is a significant shortcut for people walking from Siverly to the stores on the South Side.
“I came about an hour early and drove around to see what had changed,” Belke said. “Congratulations to the city on the clean up — things are improving nicely. For someone who comes here two or three times a year, you can see the improvements,” Belke told the authority and everyone in attendance.
Belke also said he is concerned that the demand for rail traffic has been diminishing in Venango County, especially since the Sasol plant closed in Rouseville last year.
He noted the rail access to Rouseville where Sasol and other plants, including the old Pennzoil refinery, were located over the years was a selling point. He added that he was looking for businesses in the area that could use freight service.
Belke also answered a number of questions about the two railroad bridges in Venango County that Western New York is planning to replace in the next several years.
Those bridges are the railroad bridge over Oil Creek in downtown Oil City and the railroad bridge over Sugar Creek that runs along the Andrew White Bridge in Sugarcreek Borough.
Belke said the 2023 construction season will be spent doing environmental studies in preparation for replacing the bridges.
The construction will probably get underway in 2024, he said. But he also said he has been told that obtaining steel will be very difficult and expensive, so that may delay construction another year.
After Belke spoke, redevelopment authority members decided they should meet with ORA and Oil City officials to discuss the next steps regarding the ideas discussed at Wednesday’s meeting they would want to bring to Western New York’s attention.
