The owner of a New Bern business claims the facility is in jeopardy amid a dispute with North Carolina Railroad Company about a property easement.
The 100-year-old, recently renovated Shop Class building overlooks railroad tracks that send freight to and from the docks in Morehead City and North Carolina’s larger cities, on a path through New Bern – and it’s that rail line that has caused a problem for Shop Class owner Maurice Howland.
Howland said he recently received a notice from the North Carolina Railroad Company, which claimed to now have a 200’ easement on the property rather than the previously established 100’ easement that was in place when Howland bought the building in 2016.
He said the notice stated that if he didn’t pay NCRR a fee and sign an agreement, legal action to remove the encroachments - Shop Class’s century-old building and fencing – would soon commence.
He added, “Back in 2016, if it had been that much of an easement, I would not have bought this property.
He said the NCRR’s easement claim is based on a contested interpretation of a 1909 Supreme Court case. However, in the years after that case, Howland says all surveys, for more than 100 years, including previous ones by the NCRR, show a 100” foot easement up until the most recent survey in 2017.
He provided prints of the survey that shows the easement in place when he bought the building – which is right up to one corner of the building but not through it -- and the new one that nearly dissects the business in half diagonally.
Howland said NCRR made several demands they wanted met by December 1. “They want me to admit they have the easement, that's number one, and #2 they want me to pay a $4,000 fee to use my own property. And #3, they want me to buy insurance to protect them, I guess from boat covers blowing off or sawdust hitting somebody in the face,” he said. Howland said the fee demand is for $4,000 a year – not just a one-time fee – and that doesn’t include an expected increase in insurance premiums.
The North Carolina Railroad Company is a private business, but 100 percent of the company’s stock is held by the State of North Carolina. The Governor appoints the NCRR Board of Directors. Howland says that means, as a private company, the NCRR has minimal reporting requirements when compared to state agencies.
He talked to several politicians about the easement and NCRR’s demands, from the local to the state level, but none were able to provide Howland with definitive help.
Days after that December 1 deadline, Howland and his lawyer had not heard anything further from NCRR. Best case scenario?
“Best outcome for me would be for them to go away and leave me alone and let me run my little business here,” Howland said, “But I think the best outcome for the state be the dissolution of the North Carolina Railroad Company.”
Howland is a former U.S. Department of Transportation worker, and would like to see NCRR enveloped into NC DOT’s Rail Division. “In my opinion, the state DOT in North Carolina, it does a really good job -- look how many roads they have to maintain -- and it looks like the rail division is doing pretty good,” he said, “And I noticed online their rail division is very clear about their easement requirements and how they treat encroachments. It doesn't sound like they want to extort people if there's an encroachment on the easement.”
The wider easement also impacts a lumber yard across the street from Shop Class and two homes that are both around 100 years old.
When asked for comment, North Carolina Railroad Company’s lawyer Robert Dobronski said because discussions regarding this dispute are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment publicly on the matter at this time. The New Bern lawyer handling the case for NCRR, Eric Remington with Ward and Smith, offered the same response.
Shop Class is a do-it-yourself community woodworking shop, and Howland said he and his team teach woodworking and woodturning as well as welding classes. People that want to rent time at the shop to create their projects are required to take a three-hour, $65 safety class. After that, they can rent shop time or get unlimited use of the building and its equipment for a monthly fee.
Howland has also been involved with local historic restoration efforts, including crafting new windows for New Bern’s King Solomon Lodge restoration … without charge.