Metrolink Stop Plan Heads for Study Stage

Despite resistance from neighbors, a 10-year-old proposal for a Metrolink stop moved a step ahead this week.

City Manager Kevin O’Rourke asked the City Council whether to leave the project site along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway at Dale Street in limbo, or begin required studies. The first phase of work would cost the city more than $800,000.

“We have a shortage of funds to proceed,” O’Rourke said. “Is this a project you want us to continue to evolve and grow?”

About 15 residents of the nearby Bellehurst neighborhood said no. They cited fears of noise and traffic and costs for the city, which is facing a large budget deficit.

“You will have vigorous opposition from an upscale community,” resident John J. Waller warned.

The Orange County Transportation Authority designated the site as a potential stop in 1992. It would include two raised platforms with canopies, ticket machines and a parking lot, would cost $2.7 million to build, with a $2-million expansion of parking, pedestrian bridges and other amenities slated for future years.

The city and state together have nearly $2 million set aside for the project, leaving a difference of about $645,000 for the city to fill.

That does not include the cost of the land, which the city would have to buy from the county, officials said, nor of the project’s second phase.

Mayor Patsy Marshall said she opposed the project, which would cost “an obscene amount of money” without guaranteeing any revenue.

But three councilmen who constituted a majority said the project was too important to kill without further studies.

Although the issue was not set for a formal vote, council members informally reached a 3-2 decision that city officials should continue working on studies for the project.