SOUTH FORK—All four governmental entities involved in the possible purchase of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad met to discuss the due diligence process on Monday, Sept. 11. Representatives from Rio Grande County, Mineral County, the town of South Fork and the town of Creede gathered at the Carnegie Library in South Fork to discuss the process of due diligence, the financial responsibility of the counties and towns as well as the next steps in the possible purchase of the line leading from South Fork to Creede.
Several of the officials involved in the process had many remaining questions pertaining to the process and what was going to happen next. During a meeting of the Mineral County Commissioners on Sept. 5, it was discussed that the meeting would be to help answer several of these questions and involve key property and landowners that would be affected by the purchase of the line. Commissioners spoke on the topic for a considerable amount of time stating that the next step was to get an appraisal of the land and tracks in order to get a definitive number for the purchase of the line.
One of the key factors in the purchase and due diligence of the line that officials have stressed over the past several weeks is that the money set aside for the appraisal and due diligence of the possible purchase is coming from the conservation funds within each of the participating entities. The funds are derived from the Colorado State Lottery and can only be used for similar projects that have to do with outdoor recreational opportunities or historical preservation projects, which is the goal for the future of the railroad.
Officials and landowners both expressed their desire to see that the line does not fall victim to being used as a storage location for unused rail cars like many of the other lines throughout the Valley. The informational meeting was well attended by representatives from landowners like the 4UR Ranch, Sowards Ranch and elk ranch, who have become key stakeholders for the project. It was also stated that this meeting was to be the last until the appraisal was completed and all participating entities were able to assess the financial responsibility that would come from the appraisal.
During the meeting in South Fork, the original steering committee asked the officials to accept a bid that was submitted by RL Banks as part of the request for proposals the committee had sent out to several local appraisal companies. Each participating entity was asked by the steering committee to vote to accept the bid from the winning company.
All of the participating entities agreed to accept the bid from RL Banks and chose them to be the ones to complete the survey and create an appraisal of the land and the line. From here, the participating entities will make a final decision based on the numbers generated by the appraisal on whether or not to pursue the actual purchase.
After the decision is made, officials will have to pursue grants and reach out to organizations that specialize in preserving and reutilizing old railroads in order to continue their work to preserve the line for future generations. More information will be available once the appraisal is finalized and submitted to each of the four participating entities.