Norfolk Southern won't abandon its rail yard near Clipper Magazine Stadium until late summer, but after it does, the ownership and responsibility of the site has been established.
The Lancaster city planning commission on Wednesday approved the subdivision of 28 acres of the Dillerville rail yard.
The long, narrow tract has been used to park trains and switch rail cars for more than a century.
The land and an adjoining tract are now slated for the $46 million future development of athletic fields for Franklin & Marshall College and educational facilities for Lancaster General Health, although formal plans have not been developed.
The dividing line between the two institutions will be West Liberty Street, which will be extended to connect to Harrisburg Avenue across from College Avenue.
Planning commission members voted to accept a proposal to divide the rail yard into nine lots, with most of those boundaries accommodating the right-of-way for the street.
The college will have ownership of the land to the west of Liberty Street, while the hospital will take the eastern portion.
The transfer of that land could occur as early as late summer.
That is when Norfolk Southern is expected to completely remove all of its operations from the site.
The freight rail giant shifted its operations to a new rail yard last year, built behind the main Lancaster Post Office.
Keith Orris, the project executive, said the college and hospital will then clear the land, including removal of the yard office and a trestle near Harrisburg Avenue; clear existing vegetation; do whatever environmental remediation is necessary; and install water and sewer lines and other infrastructure.
That work to prepare the site for development should take between 12 and 18 months, Orris said.
Responding to concerns of West Liberty Street residents, city planning Chief Paula Jackson said it will take longer than that for the city to open the extended street.
Jackson, referring to comments made by city Public Works Director Charlotte Katzenmoyer at a Monday meeting with residents, said it would be at least spring 2014 before work could begin on the street.
Between now and then, planning and engineering needs to be done that will include a speed-table near Harrisburg Avenue, a four-way stop sign at Armstrong Boulevard and converting angled parking in the 200 block of West Liberty into back-in angled parking.
Residents at the Monday meeting expressed concern about motorists speeding through their neighborhood to travel between North Prince Street and Harrisburg Avenue, Jackson said.
"Nothing is going to open to traffic until all the improvements are made and neighbors will be able to comment," Jackson said of future planning meetings on the project.
The 28-acre tract will be used along with a 47-acre tract that was formally part of the Armstrong floor plant. That land has already been transferred to the college and hospital.
Previously, the college had announced plans to relocate its football stadium to the area. Hospital officials had said its portion would be used for an expanded college of nursing and other facilities.
Ben Bamford, Lancaster General Health's community & governmental affairs director, reiterated Wednesday that is still the hospital's intent. But, he said, Lancaster General is beginning a "visioning process" to develop specific plans for the area.
The goal is to have those plans done in 12 to 18 months, so they will be ready to begin work when the clean-up is completed, he said.
