Scoping meeting recap
Wednesday night's scoping meeting felt like a paint-by-numbers affair. The FTA was present for the first time, lending a more official tone to the proceedings. Basically, the purpose was to gather public comment for the record, not to answer any questions. If you read the scoping booklet, you didn't miss anything. The meat and potatoes work will begin in March and continue throughout the summer: final route, costs, and benefits will all be decided before the year is out with a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) due by December and the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA, or "light rail or nothing") by March 2009. In short, KC is on track to be under consideration for the next FTA reauthorization (2010-2015). The only real hurdle remaining is, of course, local funding.
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Out of curiosity, were the majority of the people who spoke for or against the proposal? I had to leave before the comments section.
Yeah, the forum was pretty non-eventful, anyone who reads this blog was way more informed already than the info that was presented.
Looks like some houses will come tumbling down from the density charts
northlander: you mean the houses in the protected historic neighborhood of hyde park that is adjacent to our main commercial (and former rail) corridor, which already contains multi-unit dwellings and has plenty of space for more? regardless of what you meant, there is no new ROW required for the light rail line itself.
brent: i was at the 7:30 session, which was not well attended. hopefully someone who was at the 5:30 session can speak to any concerns that were voiced.
this bill passed the missouri legislature in 2006:
“House Bill 1944, which was sponsored by Rep. Steve Hobbs, prohibits the use of eminent domain solely for economic development purposes… The legislation also requires ‘just compensation’ based on more factors than simply fair market value. It also requires condemning authorities to pay relocation costs to individuals displaced by eminent domain, and contains a ‘landowner bill of rights’ that informs property owners about the eminent domain process.”
http://tinyurl.com/yqnmeh
since there will be no ROW acquired for the line through midtown and the maintenance facility will not be in hyde park, there would no land required there for transit purposes. that leaves private developers to acquire property by conventional means, just as they are free to do today.
the conversion of homes back to single-family use protects them from redevelopment.
if hyde parkers are really concerned about impacts to their neighborhood they should lobby against using linwood as an eastern spur.