Politics & Government

On Heels of Listening Sessions, Council Again Explores Freight Options

St. Louis Park City Council is expected to issue an updated freight rail resolution by the end of the month.

Plenty of time has been spent in recent weeks and months looking ahead at what could happen with freight rail in St. Louis Park, but on Monday, councilwoman Sue Sanger asked for an important look back.

During a City Council study session that came on the heels of two last week, Sanger said it’s time to evaluate the status of two council resolutions made last summer in regard to the controversial freight reroute plan, which would redirect traffic from Minneapolis’ Kenilworth Corridor to St. Louis Park to make room for a potential  southwest light rail line.

Those resolutions stated that the city would only accept the reroute if it was shown that all other options—including keeping the trains in the Kenilworth Corridor—were not viable. The city also asked that if the reroute did come that a host of mitigation measures would come with.

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Sanger said she doesn’t think there is much question about the status of the city’s requests.

“(Hennepin County) clearly has flunked both criteria,” she said.

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That assessment will now trigger several weeks’ worth of discussion before council updates its freight rail policy with a new resolution by the end of the month. Sanger said she wants to see last summer's resolutions reaffirmed, plus she wants the city to push for even more mitigation measures in the event that the St. Louis Park plan is picked.

But exactly how much weight any council resolution will carry remains to be seen. City officials have said that other entities—namely the county, the state and the impacted rail companies—seem to have more say in what route will ultimately get selected.

“I wish the city had a lot more control over that,” Mayor Jeff Jacobs said in an earlier interview.

At the same time the city is mulling its options, Hennepin County officials are finalizing an environmental assessment worksheet, or EAW. While this document will not approve one option or another, it should provide a more detailed look at some of the environmental issues of rerouting trains through St. Louis Park.

Council members said they expect the EAW to be published next week. Council is also meeting again next Monday to further discuss potential next steps with the freight issue.

Ultimately, all parties involved are working against the clock, as the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit line is slated for groundbreaking in 2014. Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman has said the reroute question will need to be resolved this year to keep the light rail plan on schedule. Who specifically gets to make that decision is unclear, though Dorfman has said it will have to involve various government agencies reaching some type of agreement.


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