Comments taken at Jan. 25 council meeting, and until Feb. 15; council vote expected Feb. 22
Most of the 16 people who spoke during the Jan. 25 Brooklyn Park public hearing on municipal consent for the Blue Line Extension said they support the rail line coming to the city and welcome the business and job opportunities expected with the transit option.
The hearing, on the Metropolitan Council’s preliminary plans for the Blue Line Extension and the corresponding reconstruction of West Broadway by Hennepin County, was part of the Brooklyn Park City Council meeting.
Mayor Jeff Lunde outlined that the city would handle the required municipal consent process by receiving public comment during the hearing and then take up council discussion and voting at another meeting. The council’s vote on municipal consent is set for the Feb. 22 regular meeting.
Dan Soler, Blue Line Extension project engineer, reviewed that the item before the city and the council is the review and approval of the physical design of the project, such as the location of the tracks, station locations, roadways and sidewalks.
Municipal consent, Soler said, is a “check-in” before the Met Council spends millions designing the light rail line. Each of the cities along the line, plus Hennepin County, are asked for municipal consent and all are hosting public hearings and anticipating council and board votes.
The municipal consent phase is expected to be completed by March 4. Once municipal consent has been gained, the Met Council can seek federal funding for the project, which is estimated to cost $1.496 billion for 13.5 miles of double track from Target Field Station in
Minneapolis to Oak Grove Parkway in Brooklyn Park with 11 stations. The rail line is planned along State Highway 55, the BNSF railway corridor and County Road 81 before turning at 73rd Avenue onto West Broadway in Brooklyn Park. Five stations, at 63rd Avenue, Brooklyn Boulevard, 85th Avenue, 93rd Avenue and Oak Grove Parkway, are planned for Brooklyn Park, along with the operations and maintenance facility along Oak Grove Parkway at the north terminus of the line.
Municipal consent, Soler said, isn’t the end of the conversation between Blue Line
officials and planners and city
officials. Rather, there are six more years of working together, as
construction is set to begin in 2018 with passenger operations by 2021.
“We will be engaging the city at milestones,” Soler said. “All the way along, we will be engaging city staff and the council.”
Chris Berne is a resident of the Maplebrook townhomes along the rail line and a city representative on the 20-member corridor management committee for the rail project. He commended the city council for tabling
action on the plans, which was nearly two years ago, and for pushing the Met Council and county to
refine the plans. The current plans, Berne said, fit better with the city and are much improved.
However, he said, there are continuing issues at Maplebrook, where six homes will be taken for the project and many residences will lose frontage to the train tracks. As a common interest community, the individuals cannot be compensated for the property and there is no existing plan to deal with the situation, Berne said.
“There is additional work to do,” he said, pressing city officials to press the county for a formal plan to address those concerns.
Reva Chamblis told the council she fully supports the project, which she said will bring great opportunity to increase economic development in the city and jobs along the corridor. Everyone along the line will benefit from the connections to jobs and services, she said.
“Most people feel the benefits outweigh the challenges,” she said. “I urge you to approve the preliminary plans.”
There is concern in the Latino community that rents will rise beyond what people can pay with new development along the line, Pablo Tapia told the council. He stressed that leaders should make sure opportunities exist for all in the community, to help everyone gain from the expected economic benefits of the rail line.
“This is a great opportunity for all communities to rise,” he said.
The city council and city staff were complimented by Bill Schreiber, who
noted that the council has been responsive to citizen concerns about the rail plans. Significant changes have been made to the plans, including the rail bridge over County Road 81 and station locations, from the first proposal, he noted. “You folks have spent an enormous amount of time working on this project,” Schreiber said.
The project is a “marvelous opportunity” for Brooklyn Park, he said, to broaden the tax base of the city and for employment. “This is all about connecting people to jobs,” Schreiber said.
Sunny Chanthanouvang, executive director of the Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota and a member of the Blue Line Coalition, stressed that small businesses and minority workers need knowledge of and access to the economic and business opportunities and construction jobs created by the project.
Chanthanouvang noted that the new Vikings stadium, with many minorities working on the construction crews, is an example the city can follow to get minorities into the rail construction work.
“At least the city can have some planning to help the young men get some training and ready for the construction jobs,” he said.
Eric Peterson, a union electrician who lives in the city, said he supports the project. His International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers brothers look forward to building and maintaining the rail line and to building the new construction that will spring up along the rail line.
“We are ready to go to work and build this project that will serve our community for years to come,” Peterson said.
Robert Jacobs told the council that they were betting against the auto industry with the light rail project. By the time the rail line is operating, the auto makers will have electric autonomous cars and taxis available to consumers, he said.
“This is not technology that is pie in the sky, it is going to happen,” Jacobs said. “We are betting against the automotive industry. We are making a $1.5 billion bet.”
The comment period for the project continues until Feb. 15. The detailed preliminary project plans for the Brooklyn Park portion are available for public review at Brooklyn Park City Hall, 5200 85th Ave. N. and the Brooklyn Park Library, 8600 Zane Ave. N. The plans are also available at http://metrocouncil.org.
The deadline for written comments to be received in Brooklyn Park is Monday, Feb. 15. Comments can be directed to Emily Carr, 5200 85th Ave. N., Brooklyn Park, MN 55443 and at lrt@brooklynpark.org; to David Davies, community outreach coordinator, Blue Line Extension Project Office, 5514 W. Broadway, Suite 200, Crystal MN 55428 or at David.davies@metrotransit.org and to Brent Rusco, senior project manager for Hennepin County Community Works, at 5514 W. Broadway, Suite 200, Crystal MN 55428 or at brent.rusco@hennepin.us.
Contact Gretchen Schlosser at gretchen.schlosser@ecm-inc.com