Property ownership dispute stalls greenbelt restoration

A new dispute over who owns a greenbelt beside a railroad track in Northeast Dallas has stalled demands to restore trees there.

Power provider Oncor admitted a contractor mistakenly cut down trees in March.

But now a new owner of the railroad tracks claims it controls the greenbelt and also a portion of the City of Dallas Casa Linda Park along the tracks.

In March, homeowner Dalton Pfiffner said she returned from spring break to find workers getting finished with tree removal on what she said was her private property between her home and the railroad tracks behind her.

“These flags are to represent where all of the mature trees, the larger trees were cut down. One of them had a caliper of 23 inches,” Pfiffner said.

Oncor said vegetation was being cleared for power pole replacement but there were no power poles on Pfiffner’s property. Oncor said it fired that contractor but completed the pole replacements on adjacent properties.

Neighbors joined forces demanding compensation from Oncor. 

Neighbor Julie Whitmire is a Master Naturalist. She described the damage in the greenbelt.

“It's like a bomb went off or something. It's destruction, just total destruction," she said.

The city of Dallas is promoting more trees to help cool and clean the air.

“We're interacting with nature all the time and for our health, as human beings. We need all of this,” Whitmire said.

Since March, the Kansas City Southern railroad tracks were sold to the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

The new company, CPKS says instead of 50 feet of right of way from the center of the tracks, it has a 75-foot right of way that includes the greenbelt where Dalton Pfiffner’s trees were mistakenly removed.

“It could happen to anyone, but the biggest reason everybody should care about this, these were 70, 80-year-old trees,” Pfiffner said.

The neighbors and Dallas City Council Member Paula Blackmon have been told the new company is using records from the 1800s to claim the larger right of way, which also includes a portion of Casa Linda Park along the tracks, a place neighborhood kids enjoy.

“When I heard that, I said, 'Oh. I’ve got to get my attorneys to be involved,” Blackmon said.

The council member said city attorneys now dispute the railroad’s expanded right of way claim. She said city land plats and resident property surveys from the 1960s show the smaller railroad right of way.

Discussions, in this case, are further complicated because of federal oversight of railroads and wetland protection of a creek that runs through the area.

“I’ve been through a lot of stuff. And I would say this one is an onion. You have to take each layer as it is,” Blackmon said.

She planned a virtual meeting with neighbors Thursday night to share information.

Her plan is to get Oncor and the railroad to work together on restoring a greenbelt that is even better than the one that was damaged.

“The railroad has stipulated that we can work with Oncor in creating a plan,” Blackmon said. “But, we need to understand where the property line begins and ends.”

Oncor Spokesperson Kerri Dunn provided a statement:

“We have been working closely with this community and the impacted customers for the last several months to keep them updated on our review process, reliability project and mitigation efforts.  As part of those efforts, we’ve extended offers to the residents directly impacted by this work. We’ve also made a commitment to support planting compatible with power lines on the railroad property. We’ve been in communication with the railroad and they have requested that we refrain from performing any work on their property until the property ownership matter has been resolved. We appreciate the patience of these residents as we continue working together to address their concerns.”

CPKC Communication Vice-President Patrick Waldron provided a much shorter statement.

“CPKS is directly engaged with city officials about a property line along the railroad corridor,” he said

Pfiffner said several neighbors accepted Oncor settlement offers but she said her offer was much less than what she claims was damaged.  And now control of that property is in dispute.