As traffic uses a temporary driveway to get in and out of Boardman Steel's property on Southern Boulevard, the company's owner isn't mincing any words over the feud that led to it being installed.
"To me it's basically legal extortion, and we weren't gonna give in to them," said David Deibel.
"Them" refers to owners of Railroad Ventures, Inc., a local investment firm run by developer David Handel. This week, in a dispute over fees to access utility lines running on either side of this railroad track, Handel ordered crews to dig up the sewer line and a paved rail crossing in front of Boardman Steel.
Although RVI no longer owns the track, it retained rights to the land where the utilities are buried, charging fees to companies wanting to access them. Deibel claims he never paid more than $400 dollars a year for that -- until 1997.
"All of a sudden Railroad ventures got involved and went up to $4,000 dollars a year," Deibel said.
For the last dozen years, Deibel's refused to pay the fee, claiming RVI voided the license agreement by increasing the fees. In a written statement, Handel claims the work done this week was "clearly allowable" -- adding there's no one to blame for all this other than Deibel and his company.
However, the head of the Youngstown and Southeastern Railroad which uses the track sees things differently.
"Whenever anybody's digging holes or ripping up along the railroad right of way, we by law have to be involved," President Powell Felix said.
While the railroad reviews its own options, it gave Boardman Steel permission to install the temporary crossing.
While Handel claims he's got a court order to back up his demand for fees -- which now total more than $160,000 dollars -- RVI has filed suit against Boardman Steel demanding another $150,000 in damages.
For his part, Deibel said he installed porta-potties to get around the sewer line issue while he works with the railroad to get his own access to the utility lines.
Neither side apparently is willing to back down.
