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Short Line Railroads and Municipal Land Use Planning, Policy, and Regulation

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Short Line Railroads and Municipal Land Use Planning, Policy, and Regulation University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses July 2015 Short Line Railroads and Municipal Land Use Planning, Policy, and Regulation Alexander R. Train University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Environmental Design Commons, and the Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons Recommended Citation Train, Alexander R., "Short Line Railroads and Municipal Land Use Planning, Policy, and Regulation" (2015). Masters Theses. 211. https://doi.org/10.7275/6956473 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/211 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Short Line Railroads and Municipal Land Use Planning, Policy, and Regulation A Thesis Presented By ALEXANDER R. TRAIN Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF REGIONAL PLANNING May 2015 Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning © Copyright by Alexander R. Train 2015 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Short Line Railroads and Municipal Land Use Planning, Policy, and Regulation A Thesis Presented By ALEXANDER R. TRAIN Approved as to style and content by: _________________________________________________ John Mullin, Chair _________________________________________________ Henry Renski, Member _________________________________________________ Mark Hamin, Member ____________________________________________ Elisabeth Hamin, Department Head Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I am indebted to my family and close group of friends for the unwavering support and structure they endlessly provided. I wish to extent my sincere gratitude to my committee: Professor Mullin, Professor Hamin, and Professor Renski. Each offered invaluable guidance, advice, and intellectual challenge they provided to me during this process. I wish to thank those who assisted with the research and development of this thesis. Furthermore, I must thank Antonio Musto for proofreading and criticizing my work, always at a moment’s notice. Finally, I am extremely grateful to my partner Kaitie for her endless support. iv ABSTRACT SHORT LINE RAILROADS AND MUNICIPAL LAND USE PLANNING, POLICY, and REGULATION MAY 2015 ALEXANDER R. TRAIN, B.S. HISTORY, SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY M.R.P., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST DIRECTED BY: PROFESSOR JOHN MULLIN This research puts forth an examination of the relationship between municipal planning and short line freight railroads. Methodologically, it employs a content analysis framework that explores local master plans and zoning bylaws for the presence of concepts relevant to short line railroads. A historically omitted topic, the railroads are found to be frequently omitted from plans, often conflicting with civic and recreational interests despite their increasingly efficient ability, economic and environmental, to service numerous industries. Zoning bylaws show a disfavor to these entities, and at times may exceed their authority. Moreover, they may create physical and legal limitations to new, rail-sustained industry, as well as the rehabilitation of former industrial clusters. Findings related to regulatory preemption, transportation and land use policy, corridor conversion, and shifting land use patterns are presented. Consequentially, daunting implications may resonate for both the railroad and municipalities. Recommendations encompass municipal, regional, and state policy, as well as opportunities for multi-agency collaboration, economic development initiatives, and revised regulatory structures. V TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………iv ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................... 5 Regional Development Theory .................................................................................................... 5 Freight Rail and Planning Theory ................................................................................................. 7 Freight Rail and Contemporary Planning ................................................................................... 11 Physical Planning .................................................................................................................... 11 Planning Practice & Policy ...................................................................................................... 12 Smart Growth & Development .............................................................................................. 13 Environmental Externalities ....................................................................................................... 14 Social and Community Factors ................................................................................................... 16 The Economic Impact of Short Line Rail .................................................................................... 18 Corridor Preservation ................................................................................................................ 20 Short Line Railroad Regulatory Structure .................................................................................. 21 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 23 3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................... 24 4. DATA COLLECTION AND METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 25 VI Methods: Content Analysis ........................................................................................................ 28 Research Area and Inventory ..................................................................................................... 31 Freight Rail and Land Use in Massachusetts .............................................................................. 32 Bay Colony Railroad ............................................................................................................... 34 Graton and Upon Railroad ..................................................................................................... 38 Mass Central Railroad ............................................................................................................ 43 Pioneer Valley Railroad .......................................................................................................... 47 Housatonic Railroad ............................................................................................................... 51 Mass Coastal Railroad ............................................................................................................ 53 5. FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................... 55 Master Plan Findings .................................................................................................................. 55 Zoning Bylaw Findings ................................................................................................................ 59 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 65 6. BEST PRACTICES ......................................................................................................................... 69 Baltimore Maritime Industrial District: Preferential Zoning ...................................................... 69 Layton City, Utah Industrial/ Manufacturing District: Performance Zoning .............................. 70 Atlanta Regional Commission Regional Freight Mobility Plan (2008) ....................................... 71 Fredrick County, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (2009) ........................... 72 Chicago Industrial Corridor Tax Increment Financing Districts: Multiple Locations (1999) ...... 73 Vancouver, Washington (2006-2011) BNSF Rail Yard Expansion .............................................. 73 City of Holyoke and Pioneer Valley Railroad: Public-Private Partnership for Economic Development ............................................................................................................................. 75 State of Florida: Integrated Freight Planning ............................................................................
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