Amador County – Ione City Council directed staff to look into options for the future of the city-owned train depot, which faces possible demolition if a lease runs out with Union Pacific.

City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said a lease agreement reached under the former city manger expires May 3, by which time the city must move the building to a different location or mitigate the lead and other contamination on the property and on the building. If it is not moved or mitigated, Union Pacific wants to demolish the building, and will do so and bill the city.

Butzlaff said contaminant mitigation was estimated to cost $50,000, and moving the depot to a nearby city corporate yard would cost $30,000. He wrote to Union Pacific seeking an extension to the deadline, and Union Pacific said they would not be willing to extend the deadline unless the city could provide a specific source for the $50,000 and a specific timeline.

Amador County Historical Society pledged in-kind labor for the project, and found an emergency grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation of $2,000 to $5,000, although “it is one-tenth of what we needed,” Butzlaff said.

Councilman David Plank said a City Engineer’s report on the depot said there is “nothing in this building that is to code already.” Plank said they can demolish the depot on site and carry it to the corporate yard or Howard Park then reassemble it. Plank said the building had “great, tremendous timbers.” Mayor Ron Smylie said they might be able to take it apart in sections and move it.

Thornton Consolo said he is on the “Ione Train Station Salvation Committee” of the Amador Historical Society. He said the Society has benefactors to approach for money, but “we need a plan in place to get money.” He preferred the city corporate yard for a move because it was directly adjacent to the railroad tracks.

Councilwoman Andrea Bonham said “it was never an ideal contract but it was the only way to save it or they were going to tear it down.” Plank and Vice Mayor Daniel Epperson favored moving the depot to the city yard.

Collin Frost of the Amador County Historic Railroad Preservation Society and an Ione native said the Depot is a Centennial building, built in 1876, and by moving it from the original site “you would lose the value of the building.” He urged mitigating the site instead.

Councilman Lloyd Oneto liked saving the old building but was against mitigating the site because he would hate to spend all that money and then still get evicted by Union Pacific in 60 days or two years.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.