(rshsdepot) Sparta, MI

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From yesterday's Grand Rapids Press.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Railroad group fears eviction from Sparta depot 

By Barton  Deiters

SPARTA -- A piece of Sparta history is for sale and, unless  a group of train 
enthusiasts can work out a deal with a Detroit-area real estate  broker, the 
Union Street Depot could disappear. 
 
When the era of train travel came to a close, a group of locomotive fans  
decided it wanted to save the depot that sat at the end of Union and State  
streets near downtown Sparta. Since 1972, the Western Michigan Railroad  Historical 
Society has been restoring, maintaining and holding meetings at the  
century-old depot. 
 
They added two cabooses, a 1950s road railer, a covered hopper car, and a  
refrigerated boxcar with a model train layout representing the railway line as  
it was in 1946, according to 82-year-old Ralph Busse, president of the 
society. 
 
"People take for granted that it's always going to be there forever," said  
Busse, an Ada resident. 
 
The railroad group has been paying CSX Railroad, which owned the track and  
property, $350 a year for rent and an $800 yearly insurance premium was paid by 
 Mary Jean Herwaldt, whose late husband, Ed Chorman, served as Sparta's 
railroad  mail clerk and postmaster. 
 
But under circumstances that no one from the local or county level can  quite 
seem to figure out, tax bills for the property stopped being sent to CSX,  
and the property taxes became delinquent. 
 
In August 2004, the property was sold by Kent County for back taxes. 
 
Bill Adams, a Macomb County real estate broker, picked up the 4.29-acre  
parcel for $11,000. 
 
It wasn't until this spring that society members even knew the property was  
sold and approached Adams about selling it. He told them that the price was  
$50,000. 
 
"There's no way we could sing that," Busse said. "We're just a little  
nonprofit group." 
 
The society has 30 members, each of whom pays $30 per year to cover  expenses 
and the rent for the depot. Busse's son, Scott, said most of the  members are 
senior citizens. 
 
Society treasurer Sue Carpenter, of Comstock Park, has been negotiating  with 
the owner to try to work out a deal, but has not had any luck. 
 
Adams offered to rent the property to the society for $1,200 the first  year, 
$1,800 the next and $2,400 the year after that. But even that would be  
impossible for the society to come up with, Carpenter said. 
 
Adams said he is not some greedy speculator trying to drive out the  
historical group. He points out that the rental agreement is far below what he  could 
rent the property for at market value -- the online real estate listing  asks 
$8,000 annually to rent it. 
 
He also says he has allowed the group to use the property rent free since  
August 2004. 
 
"They're wonderful people," Adams said. "I'm absolutely sure we will work  
through this." 
 
But society members are not so sure. In mid-December, the group got a  notice 
it had until Feb. 15 to vacate the property along with all its  possessions 
or face eviction. 
 
Adams says the letter from his attorney was simply a way to get the ball  
rolling on serious negotiations for the property. Although Busse and Carpenter  
say the property has little value for development, Adams said he has had people 
 interested in the site. 
 
Busse said he worries that the group will have to either find a new home  for 
the train cars and depot or lose them. 
 
"Because we're a nonprofit, in the end, the state would get everything we  
have," Busse said. 
 
Busse, who has been a train enthusiast for 70 years, says the loss of the  
depot would be one more piece of important American history lost forever. He is  
not optimistic that a deal can be worked out. 
 
"All we can do now is wait and see," Busse said.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1279
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org