Nelson County Times 

The Friends of Gladstone Depot was approved this month for a $25,000 grant from the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Community Investment Program and also has received a $15,000 pledge from Nelson County to help the nonprofit purchase the former railroad depot.

From the article:

"In a months-long effort to save the depot from demolition, Joanne Absher, president of the nonprofit, said Monday the nonprofit still is negotiating with CSX Transportation, which owns the depot, after having raised roughly $45,000 to purchase the depot and nearby land.

The nonprofit was created last year in an effort to save the depot, which was built in 1889, by raising funds to move and renovate it to serve as a historical attraction and community space.

Meanwhile, the former YMCA building near the depot that also is owned by CSX was demolished over the weekend.

“That building was in bad shape and we are still in process of saving the depot,” Absher said.

“It all looks favorable. We feel very confident everything is going to work out the way we want it to.”

The nonprofit’s fundraising goal is to pay $40,000 to CSX Transportation for the depot and for a small parcel of land owned by CSX and located about 150 feet from the depot’s current site.

With the county’s commitment of $15,000, made during the May 8 board of supervisors meeting, plus the ACP community investment program grant, the nonprofit now has $45,000, Absher said. Of the funding raised so far, $5,000 will be used for insurance and permits, she said.

“A weight has been lifted, that’s all I can say,” Absher said. “Now we are just a step closer to obtaining the building. I know once we get the building, we can get the funding through grants to move it and restore it.”

Absher said the nonprofit recently applied for a grant from ACP’s community investment program and was approved this month.

Absher told the Nelson County Board of Supervisors at its May 8 meeting the nonprofit had received a $25,000 donation, though she did not name the donor. The board voted at the same meeting to approve allocating $15,000 to the nonprofit for the purchase of the depot and land from CSX.

Supervisor Larry Saunders, who represents the South District that includes Gladstone, said during the meeting if the nonprofit cannot make the purchase, the $15,000 funding will not be allocated.  

Jen Kostyniuk, director of communications for Dominion Energy, said May 15 the nonprofit had applied for a $25,000 grant, but it still was under review. On Monday, Kostyniuk said in an email the grant had been awarded to the nonprofit.

Absher said although the grant wasn’t yet finalized on May 8, she was told the grant was going to be awarded.

“When I spoke before the board, there was a grant in progress,” Absher said. “I was told by word of mouth the grant was approved. If the grant didn’t go through, the county wouldn’t allocate the $15,000.”

The ACP’s community investment program, which began in early 2016, is geared toward nonprofits along the ACP route, Kostyniuk said in an email, adding the program has awarded more than 160 grants totaling nearly $1 million as of May 15.

The program is funded by the ACP partner companies including but not solely Dominion Energy, Kostyniuk said."