A majority of the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority members present at Tuesday’s special meeting voted to sell the county rail line to Reading and Northern Railroad.
Authority members Stephen Phillips and Erik Laskosky supported the sale, while Board Chairman Scott Linde voted against it.
The two remaining authority members — John Pekarovsky and Kelly Mulhern — were not in attendance at the time of the vote.
A decision was before the authority because it has a litigation settlement agreement with the county calling for the line to be sold by Oct. 9. The county filed the litigation over $3.28 million it is owed by the authority.
Under the settlement agreement, the county has power over which entity acquires the line.
County Council unanimously vetoed the authority’s original decision to sell the line to R.J. Corman Railroad Group, leaving it up to the authority to decide if it wanted to recommend another entity.
The council is set to vote Wednesday on whether it will accept or veto the recommendation to sell to Reading and Northern. Several council members past and present have expressed support for tourism-related passenger-train excursions and other rail improvements promised by Reading and Northern.
The council cannot outright award the sale to any entity because the authority still owns the property. However, the county is set to immediately take possession of all rail property if a sale doesn’t close by Oct. 9, the settlement agreement said.
Linde said he did not vote for the sale to Reading and Northern, in part due to concerns raised Tuesday morning by R.J. Corman about its ownership and track rights at the Grimes Industrial Park in Pittston Township. R.J. Corman provided deeds and agreements it said show the company — not the redevelopment authority — own tracks in that area that were part of the property to be sold. Linde said that matter should be resolved before an entity is selected because it will likely lead to litigation.
R.J. Corman had proposed an $8.2 million purchase offer.
Reading and Northern offered a $10 million package — $7 million cash at closing plus $3 million for specific track-related rehabilitation services to be spent during the first three years — in addition to a commitment to make upgrades to provide passenger-train excursions from a depot in Wilkes-Barre.
Reading and Northern Chairman and CEO Andy M. Muller Jr. subsequently announced the county can keep the entire $10 million. However, county and authority officials said they cannot lock in the verbal revision because it came after the deadline to submit purchase offers.
Tuesday’s authority approval made it clear the Reading and Northern sale must reserve easements for existing and planned trail extensions.