On October 27th, the city of Shafter held a meeting to discuss a proposed alternative buildout by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. During the meeting, many Shafter constituents expressed their concerns and opposition to the proposed project passing through the city. Many voiced similar sentiments that the project would threaten the city’s infrastructure, history, and local businesses and possibly create a divide in the town.
119 miles of the High Speed Rail (HSR) construction are currently underway, with 171 miles stretching from Merced to Bakersfield.
Tuesday night, the council met for its regular meeting and heard a public comment from a community member, who is also part of the Shafter Historical Society.
Stan Wilson, curator of the Shafter Depot Museum, presented follow-up commentary regarding the potential effects the HSR may have on the museum. The historical landmark has been open since October 9th, 1982, and has been open to the public for tours. However, with the proposed railway, it may cut directly to the outside portion of the museum, which contains the equipment vital to this landmark.
“The high-speed rail representative said that the depot museum would not be affected, but that equipment in the yard would be. There is 16 feet between the depot building and the railroad property line that includes our rail sighting and our rail cars,” said Wilson
California alone has a total of 2,380 places on the National Register of Historic Places. Historic landmarks registered are protected from federal projects, which would require the federal government to review any projects that may have an impact on these places.
“The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the rails and cars are integral parts of our historic presentation, and that cannot be compromised,” continued Wilson.
Wilson added that during last week’s meeting, the HSR spokesperson failed to discuss the impacts the project would have on other buildings located within the Depot museum: the pump house, school house, and the agricultural museum.
“The historical society has met five times with the high-speed rail people from 2017 through 2019 to work out a mitigation for the museum because of a wall that would be built adjacent to it…At no time during these negotiations was it ever mentioned that any of our spaces would be violated,” explained Wilson.
Wilson presented to the Council exhibits drawn out by the high-speed rail, which clearly depict the wall and mural being directly on the historic society’s property line, causing an impact on those buildings and historic artifacts.
The tract maps provided by the high-speed rail displayed the various parcels throughout the city that would be impacted, meaning that they would be removed.. Those particular parcels included the other previous buildings mentioned by Wilson.
“It is not clear why they need more space there,” emphasized Wilson.
City staff and Council asked Mr.Wilson for a copy of the executed agreement between the historic society and the high-speed rail to further evaluate the documents.
“We’ll also look at the high-speed rail form they have on their website to see if they’ve logged it as well,” affirmed City Manager Lane Lippincott.
Another Special City Council Meeting is to be held on November 10th at 4:30 p.m., followed by a Regular City Council Meeting on November 18th at 6 p.m. Additional Meetings can be found here: https://www.shafterca.gov/26/Agendas
