Boyertown >> A move by Berks County commissioners will soon benefit both Colebrookdale Railroad and Boyertown.
At the Thursday’s meeting, the commissioners approved a measure to transfer $250,000 from the county’s Environmental Defense Fund to the Berks County Redevelopment Authority for the purchase of the Boyertown Rail Yard.
The authority will own the 2.362-acre parcel and Colebrookdale Railroad will lease the land, according to Commissioner Mark Scott.
“Basically it’s a gravel lot right now,” Scott said. “They intend to put some rail siding there, and a station and platform. There will be some passenger-related improvements.”
The county is using money from the Environmental Defense Fund, which was established with money gained from legal settlements regarding the Pottstown Landfill and penalties from other environmental violations.
“It’s interesting that the battle of the Pottstown Landfill… was won in the east and now the money returns to the east,” Scott said.
The land will remain under the ownership of the Berks County Redevelopment Authority, said commissioners’ Chairman Christian Leinbach, in case the trust that owns the railroad comes into any financial difficulty.
“We are making sure that piece of land is protected,” Leinbach said.
The money will go to Boyertown, who bought the land for development, but never found the funding to build on the land, Scott said.
“It’s beneficial to the railroad and it is beneficial to Boyertown,” he said. “Boyertown will benefit from the economic impact of the railroad and the tourism it brings. Boyertown will also get a quarter-million dollars that it can use for other projects. I’m sure they’ll put it to good use.”