WYLIE, Texas — The city of Wylie is hoping to reach an amicable solution with Canadian Pacific Kansas City Rail or CPKC, after shareholder reports revealed new plans for the Dallas-Wylie Terminal.
According to the shareholder report found on the company's website, expansion plans call for a "30-acre automotive compound," where new vehicles will be stored. The compound will be located along State Highway 78, which cuts through northeast Collin County.
Wylie Mayor Matthew Porter fears the location will essentially be a "large parking lot." Porter said the plans call for a spur track, or an off-shoot of the original rail line, to accommodate the added density.
"It would just be rows and rows of cars that are parked. It's a lot of vehicles. Especially, when you think they park them bumper to bumper and just row after row," said Porter.
Porter told WFAA that the city was first alerted to the plans in August after contractors started calling in for bids for proposals. He's upset because early plans for a warehouse and logistics facility were scrapped by then Kansas City Southern. He believes the merger with Canadian Pacific clearly forced the company to re-evaluate its long-term plan for the region.
The city told WFAA the earlier plans which would have resulted in a projected 1,500 new jobs for the city of Wylie was specially approved for zoning in 2021.
"[Earlier plans] allows certain things and not others and 'outside storage' is one the things specifically listed as prohibited," said Porter.
Porter said CPKC's plans for the 30-acre compound have moved forward without any decisions from the city board. He said CPKC has not sought any changes to its existing special use permit for the property.
"As a general rule rail lines are able to engage in activities at their leisure on property they own so long as, indirectly or directly, it supports the transportation system," said attorney Robert Daake of the Law Offices of Robert D. Daake.
Daake does not represent either party and specializes in transactional real estate law, land use and zoning cases.
"CPKC has been engaged with city officials for months, including in-person meetings, about this project and the plans to build an approximately 30-acre automotive distribution facility on more than 200 acres of undeveloped railroad property at the CPKC intermodal yard in Wylie," read a statement from CPKC.
"The discussions have included agreement to city requests for fire suppression infrastructure and additional landscaping at the auto lot. We remain engaged with city officials about the new auto lot facility which will serve the logistics needs of the growing automotive market and its consumers by delivering finished cars and trucks to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex," the statement continued.
Porter is worried about aesthetic, about traffic from car haulers, but mostly about having to provide fire, police and EMS, for a project the city has no say in. Rail lines have great latitude in the interest of national commerce.
"Were every local municipality able to essentially zone railroads out of existence... the national defense systems and the national economy would collapse very quickly," added Daake.
WFAA asked the city of Wylie whether it would consider legal action as a last resort.
Porter said the city's focus is an amicable solution all sides can agree with. The governing body over rail lines, the Surface Transportation Board, will bring both sides to the table this week.