But officials at the Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad have "chosen not to go this route," William Goetz, director of intermodal development for the company said Tuesday.

Instead, the railroad spent nearly two hours selling the project to York County Council members and more than 400 mostly angry residents who appeared at a public County Council meeting Monday night.

Goetz stood at the front with a slideshow presentation, deflecting criticism with comparisons to a similar facility and presenting how the facility's 33 permanent jobs would help the county.

At the end, the company won a 4-3 vote from council members in favor of rezoning 360 acres it wants to turn into an intermodal facility, which is a transfer site for items to be taken off and on trucks and trains.

So far, officials at one of the country's largest railroads have a winning strategy.

"Companies can do a lot of different things," Goetz said. "But we feel that the best way for us to have a long-term viable strategy here is to do that with a good level of community support and a little bit of boosterism."

County planning staff will now review the proposal, and council members will need to hold a public hearing and vote two more times. County Chair Mike Short said he would like to visit Georgia to look at a similar facility touted by CSX officials.

County Manager Al Greene said a final decision would likely not come before late October or early November.

"We're going on the assumption that York County has authority," Greene said.

Federal law treats railroads differently from other companies, Goetz said. Railroads have long been considered unique under federal law because they transport goods needed across the country.

Goetz said CSX believes it could build the facility without county approval, but emphasized that the railroad has not checked with its attorneys about the possibility of using such a legal mechanism for the property in South Carolina.

The company paid $1.6 million for 390 acres off U.S. 21 southeast of Rock Hill. CSX bought the land in 2002 and early 2003, believing they had the support of county leaders for the project, Goetz said. York County offered $200,000 for road improvements, and the state had offered to match the money, he said.

But the company's plan was derailed May 2003 when the County Council voted against rezoning, though planning staff had recommended the rezoning one month earlier.

Residents have fought the development since the beginning, saying they fear a huge increase in truck traffic on a seven-mile stretch of U.S. 21 that connects with I-77. During the company's presentation Monday, Goetz presented data showing that 200 trucks will travel in and out of the facility daily.

Council members Rick Lee, Perry Johnston, Steve McNeely and Ada Chisolm-Perry voted in approval of first reading this time around, saying they wanted to learn more about how the facility would affect the surrounding community. Short, Buddy Motz and Curwood Chappell voted against the company's request.

"They'll do what they want," mumbled Catawba resident Howard Davis on his way out the door. "We're wasting our time."

The two-hour meeting was filled with dramatic moments as council member Chappell, who represents the residents of the area where the terminal is planned, likened council member Lee to the biblical Judas for bringing the company's request back into county consideration.

Goetz said Tuesday that the company doesn't "have a plan B" for what it would do with the land if it is not rezoned.

"There are a lot of different options, and we have decided on none of them," Goetz said, adding the company could not spend more than $1 million on land and "just let it sit idle."