Trouble at the terminal
PART is looking for a downtown transportation terminal in Winston-Salem that would serve inter-city travel. (Read: Buses and Trains).
There's a 1926 one that looks like it would do fine. The only problem, it's privately owned and houses Davis Garage. The owner has entertained the idea of selling it to the city in the past, but at the moment doesn't seem so inclined, PART Executive Director Brent McKinney told the PART board Wednesday morning.
That's were two ugly words come into play: eminent domain.
PART's board was talking about the station Wednesday because it's being asked to spend $300,000 on a feasability study for renovation of the station. In order to do the study, they would need access to the property. That's something Winston-Salem would have to provide through an early step toward eminent domain condemnation.
If the city is going to take the property, it needs to first figure out how usable it is and how expensive it would be to rehab.
PART has the engineers and architects on retainer who could conduct the study. So PART would really be acting as an intermediary for the city, which would reimburse PART. But the transporation authority has an interest as well because it would be the primary tenant of a rehabbed depot, unlike the Galyon Depot in Greensboro at which Greensboro Transit Authority is the largest tenant, though PART has space there too.
The discussion was quite lively with Forsyth County Commissioner Bill Whiteheart making an impassioned plea to protect the property owner's rights.
PART board members decided to table the whole issue because they don't want to get involved in an eminent domain case. So once Winston-Salem has settled the issue of availability, then PART might take a look at the property. In the meantime, there are other places that a suitable transporation center could be built, McKinney said.
