Whether La Plata County has authority over the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad through its land-use code remains an unanswered question.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission will decide the next steps in a lawsuit filed by the D&SNG and its Florida-based parent company American Heritage Railways Inc. against La Plata County arguing the county has little control over its use of the Rockwood station as a point of arrival and departure.
Lawyers for D&SNG and American Heritage Railways filed the lawsuit in May asking a judge to bar the county from issuing fines or other means of enforcement after county officials sent the railroad notices that the expansion and growth of its Rockwood station were not aligned with the county’s land-use code.
“The county lacks jurisdiction to apply its land-use code and regulations,” attorneys for D&SNG wrote in the lawsuit.
“DSNGR/D&SNG is regulated as to its facilities and services by the PUC and the regulation of public utilities involves a matter of statewide concern which precludes interference by the county,” they wrote.
The county petitioned the PUC in August asking the regulatory body to clarify its own jurisdiction and the authority of the county, and the PUC agreed to take the case.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Suzanne Carlson halted D&SNG’s lawsuit on Oct. 12 until the PUC makes a decision after denying the train’s request for a temporary order against the county in September.
James Cullen, a spokesman for the PUC, said in an email to The Durango Herald the administrative law judge assigned the petition still has “a lot more research he needs to do before we can identify any potential outcomes or even a timeline.”
The controversy started after D&SNG began using its Rockwood station as a major waypoint for its Cascade Canyon Express in 2020 during the pandemic and after a June rainstorm washed out a bridge near Silverton that prevented D&SNG from reaching its Silverton depot.
Neighbors in the small Rockwood residential community north of Durango on County Road 200 off U.S. Highway 550 complained to the county about increasing traffic that made the road a nightmare.
The move was supposed to be temporary, but when D&SNG announced that it would run trains through Rockwood in 2021, the surrounding community again raised concerns and questioned why county officials had not required D&SNG to apply for permits as it increased its operations at the site.
In April 2021, the county notified D&SNG that it would have to modify its operations or go through the proper land-use process, otherwise risking fines and legal action.
The railroad dismissed the county and instead filed the lawsuit to allow its operations to continue. In court filings, lawyers for D&SNG have insisted that the county is improperly applying its land-use codes to the train, and they maintain that only the PUC can regulate D&SNG’s activities since it is considered a “public utility” under Colorado law.
County and Colorado Department of Transportation officials have stated in legal filings that the changes D&SNG has made to Rockwood need to undergo a permitting process that aligns the station’s development with the county’s land-use code.
“(State statute) requires that the construction of any new public utility facility, plant or system must comply with local governmental land-use regulations, and requires any extensions, betterments or additions constructed by a public utility to comply with existing land-use plans,” attorneys for the county wrote in the petition to the PUC in August.
County lawyers have cited four groups of violations committed by the train in the county’s petition to the PUC, including impacts to roads and unauthorized expanded parking.
D&SNG halted its use of the Rockwood station as a departure point in 2021, but with no decision by the PUC on the horizon, it could be some time before the conflict is resolved.
ahannon@durangoherald.com
