Latz, Simon, Winkler Blast Southwest LRT Re-route Plan

Three local legislators who are among the biggest Southwest Light Rail Transit supporters are criticizing the project’s process and the potential freight rail impact on St. Louis Park.

Sen. Ron Latz and Reps. Steve Simon and Ryan Winkler sent a joint letter to the Metropolitan Council on Tuesday expressing “serious concerns” about how the freight rail re-route plan could hurt St. Louis Park and “the lack of public transparency” about how the proposals came about.

Planners have proposed re-routing Twin Cities & Western (TC&W) freight trains, which currently run on a planned segment of the Southwest LRT, to Canadian Pacific and BNSF routes that opponents say aren’t meant for the longer trains that TC&W uses.
Nearby residents say the additional, heavier freight traffic on the tracks would lower property values, disrupt nearby St. Louis Park High School and be more dangerous. They prefer keeping the TC&W freight line in the same corridor as the light rail—an option known as “co-location.”

Protestors came out in droves to criticize the reroute plan in the project’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). However, the Met Council also announced a pair of new re-route options—including a new freight rail route through the St. Louis Park High School football field—just months before a final decision is scheduled to be made.

“We have not yet heard a satisfactory explanation as to why these two proposals of such immense magnitude were unveiled just three months before a proposed final decision on the freight rail question,” the legislators wrote.

The full text of their letter is below.

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As state legislators, we have been strong supporters of funding the Southwest Corridor Light Rail Transit project (SWLRT) during our terms in elected office. We have serious concerns, however, about the freight rail re-route plan and the lack of public transparency and inclusion in the way these new alternatives came to fruition. We do not support re-routing freight rail through St. Louis Park as reflected in the two alternatives put forward by the Metropolitan Council. Although we understand the delicate nature of municipal consent and the compromise required of all stakeholders in building a major new infrastructure project, we believe the best opportunity for compromise lies in one of the co-location options in the Kenilworth Corridor. Co-location will result in less disruption and negative impact for the region, and can be the most cost-effective for the SWLRT project as a whole.

While it is never an easy choice to use eminent domain, the dislocation visited upon relatively few residents in Minneapolis is not as significant as the alternatives sketched out for St. Louis Park. Among these are the building of an 18 foot high railroad berm to carry the trains through the city. This will increase safety risks for nearby homes, eliminate many single family homes and commercial businesses, and take out community assets like the new high school football field and portions of the Park Spanish Immersion School at the Central Community Center. It will also effectively divide our city in two on either side of the berm.

It seems to us that the impact on St. Louis Park of a re-route would be far more severe than removing a single line of townhomes at the rail bottleneck in Minneapolis, keeping freight rail there, and adding quieter LRT trains to the long-dedicated rail corridor, possibly underground. We also need to strike a balance between regional trail amenities and broader community impact. The challenge of routing freight trains was created when the 29th Street rail corridor was severed to create the Midtown Greenway. That trail amenity is important but it is not fair to place the burden of expanding and protecting regional trails into others' backyards.

Finally, we are deeply disappointed with the process that has brought about the supplemental DEIS. The two new re-route alternatives would bring drastic and permanent changes to our neighborhoods, yet the proposals came far too late in the ongoing SWLRT process for meaningful public input. We have not yet heard a satisfactory explanation as to why these two proposals of such immense magnitude were unveiled just three months before a proposed final decision on the freight rail question. Plans of such size and scope should have been unveiled a long time ago. As a result of this flawed process, feelings of cynicism and frustration run high in the affected neighborhoods. Some residents and business owners feel ambushed and ignored. Clearly, we can do better.

We thank you for your work on the difficult task of finding an option that will work for all SWLRT stakeholders. We look forward to more public inclusion during the next steps of this process. This is of critical importance to the St. Louis Park residents and business owners we represent at the State Capitol.

Sincerely,

Ron Latz

State Senator (Dist. 46)

Ryan Winkler

State Senator (Dist. 46A)

Steve Simon

State Rep. (Dist. 46B)