To the Editor:

A meeting will be held at 6:30 pm on August 15 at Fillmore City Hall for residents to voice their concerns to Supervisor Kelly Long and local officials about the 100 heavily graffitied railcars currently parked on Old Telegraph to the west of Fillmore.

In November, 2022, The Ventura Country Transportation Commission, represented by Supervisor Long, signed an agreement with Sierra Northern Railways that allows rail storage, not in cities, but in all other incorporated areas on the rail line currently running between Montalvo and Piru. The agreement also includes use of the railway for the Sunburst Railbikes, which currently cross and interrupt Highway 126 traffic up to 8 times day.

The railcars were brought in after the bridge closure to provide storage revenue for Sierra Northern Railways, and amounts to hundreds of dollars a day.

Despite the request of the Fillmore Gazette, residents, local officials and law enforcement, Sierra Northern Railways, which maintains an office at 351 Santa Clara Street in Fillmore, has refused to move the trains approximately one mile west and out of view, lessening their impact as a public and attractive nuisance.

Although moving the railcars west would shorten the 17 mile round trip Sunburst Railbike ride to around 15 miles, many residents feel is that is a reasonable compromise, and are asking for immediate action.
Sierra Northern Railways insists the railcars will remain in place until the railway bridge is fixed sometime in early 2024, at which time these railcars, and probable others, will be stored outside of Fillmore to the east and in the Santa Clara Valley on the way to Piru.

Although this move in 2024 will provide relief to neighbors whose views of the mountains have been reduced to railcar graffiti they find offensive, many feel using our railways as inexpensive industrial storage sites seems adverse to the local agricultural zoning and Ventura County General Plan, and is disrespectful to both the towns of Fillmore and Piru.
Members of the community are highly encouraged to attend the meeting or send in letters to City Manager Dave Rowland to be shared. This Ventura County Transportation Commission and Sierra Northern Agreement is set to last for the next 35 years.

Concerned Fillmore Citizen