Darlington County residents concerned about private drive closure

DARLINGTON- Residents living in Marlowe Mobile Home Park say they’re concerned about their safety after railroad officials closed off an entrance into the park that crossed over railroad tracks.

The Mobile Home Park, situated between Hwy. 52 and Ebenezer Road in Darlington County, has had two entrances and exits for the past 40 years, but that changed in October.

CSX Transportation Inc., which owns a railroad that runs parallel to the park, previously had an agreement with the park’s owner, Mr. David Marlowe, that allowed for residents to utilize Lake Grove Dr. to enter and exit the park off of Hwy. 52.

Lake Grove Dr. runs over the set of railroad tracks owned by CSX.

In October though, CSX officials said the condition of the road surrounding the tracks became so bad that they were concerned about drivers’ safety.

CSX officials gave Marlowe notice that something needed to be done to fix the problem within 30 days and said if action were not taken, it would be forced to terminate the agreement between the two and close the crossing.

CSX officials contended that they gave Marlowe enough notice to fix the problem, but Marlowe said that he did not have enough time to make the necessary repairs before the railroad company took action and closed off the area.

In addition, CSX officials noted that an alternate entrance and exit to the park also exists on Ebenezer Road.

The residents of the mobile home park say they now feel as if they are in the middle of a situation they cannot control and fear that the closing of the road puts their safety at risk.

“We’re trying to show why this would be so much better for us (to reopen the crossing), because we have quite a few elderly people and EMS is out here quite a bit…plus, the fire department and the police department, any of those emergency people could get into here so much faster,” said Marlowe Mobile Home Park resident, Shirley Isenhower, who created a petition to try to reopen the crossing.

Isenhower collected the signatures of many of the park’s residents and even Darlington County Sheriff Wayne Byrd, in hopes that pleas from residents would help foster an agreement between Marlowe and CSX to reopen the crossing.

Isenhower said that she, and many other residents who live on the side of the park that borders Hwy. 52, feel that the closure of the Lake Grove Dr. entrance would not only cause confusion for emergency personnel trying to enter the park to assist residents, but could waste precious minutes through having to access the park through the Ebenezer Rd. entrance.

“My neighbor is on oxygen all the time and he has quite a few EMS calls and they came out (recently) and got to the crossing and almost had an accident because no one knew (the crossing was closed),” Isenhower said.

“It was just closed and he (the ambulance driver), had to go back and find an alternate entrance which also took time,” she said.

Though Isenhower hopes that her efforts and those of other residents, will convince the park’s owner and CSX to come to an agreement, CSX officials said they did not know at this time if the site could potentially be reopened if necessary repairs were made.