Minutes 04/24/1984 - Laserfiche WebLink

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314 TUESDAY APRIL 24, 1984 connection with the C&NW in the Martinsville area. After some discussion by Council of this matter and noting the potential for future industrial development along the C&NW's line for which application might be filed for abandonment, Council went on record, in the form of the following resolution unanimously adopted, as being opposed to the contemplated abandonment and/or discontinuance: WHEREAS, by letter dated April 3, 1984, from the Department of Highways & Transportation of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, has been notified that the Southern Railway Company has filed an amended System Diagram Map with the Inter- state Commerce Commission indicating that the Southern Railway Company may file or apply for permission, within the next three years, to aban- don and/or discontinue that section of its Carolina & Northwestern Railway line between Leaksville Junction (in Pittsylvania County, Vir- ginia, near the Virginia-North Carolina boundary) and a freight station identified as "Hilltop", situated just inside the East Corporate Limits of the City of Martinsville; and WHEREAS, if such filing occurs and permission is granted, irrestpective of the fact that some rail service may be continued or provided to the northwest section of Martinsville through a connection with the lines of the Norfolk & Western Railway Company, the southeast section of Martins- ville and Henry County, which already has some industrial development and also has a potential for greater industrial development, would be without rail service; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Martinsvi1le, Virginia, in regular session, that it hereby registers its opposition to the abandonment and/or discontinuance of said C&NW line section, as contemplated. Upon being advised by the Virginia Municipal League that legislation has been intro- duced in the United States Congress which, if enacted, will grant immunity to local governments and their special-purpose units from liability under Federal anti-trust laws, such as is presently afforded state governments and the federal government, to obviate the future possibility of judicial findings such as in 1981 by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Community Communications v. City of Boulder, 455 U. S. 40 (1982), by which local governments and their special-purpose units are now exposed to time-consuming litigation and suits, some of which may be frivolous and