SLP Considers How to Integrate Light Rail Into Community

This evening the St. Louis Park council will be discussing the city’s plan for development around the Southwest Light Rail Transitway corridor.

And Safety in the Park, the neighborhood advocacy group with the support of more than 1,500 St. Louis Park residents, is holding a rally outside city hall to vocalize its opposition to relocating freight rail lines.

The rally is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. outside city hall.

“This is not a forum for public opinion to be shared,” Safety in the Park member Julie Yakes wrote in an email. “Our voice is our presence.”

The Met Council is expected to make a decision on whether to relocate freight rail through St. Louis Park or run it parallel to the Southwest Light Rail Transitway on Sept. 25.

But no matter the outcome, light-rail will go forward in St. Louis Park and the city council has formulated six preliminary principles for building houses, promoting job growth and developing transit options in response to the new light-rail line:

1. Partner to leverage resources and maximize investment.

2. Realize diverse, compact transit-oriented development (TOD) surrounding transit

facilities.

3. Accelerate economic competitiveness and job growth.

4. Provide a full range of housing choices.

5. Create great quality places around transit facilities and key destinations.

6. Strengthen connections between LRT and the surrounding areas.

The council will be working to revise these principles at tonight’s meeting.