The debate over light rail — where it should be aligned in Vancouver and whether it should even be built — continued late Monday night, with dozens of residents packing city hall to offer their opinions.
After more than two and a half hours of public comment and a lengthy debate, the city council unanimously approved 17th street as the light rail’s east/west alignment.
The council wrapped up its marathon meeting at 11:20 p.m., with members expressing their concerns about the effects the alignment will have, but ultimately saying that in the long term, 17th Street would flourish with light rail.
“It’s going to be different, it’s going to be an urbanized neighborhood,” Councilor Jeanne Harris said. “I’m going to be supporting (putting the train) on 17th Street, but I’m going to be doing everything I can to make sure that neighborhood is livable and sustainable.”
Of all the hotly contested aspects of the project, the most discussion has been about the east/west route from downtown to the line’s terminus at Clark College. Planners considered McLoughlin Boulevard or 17th Street. City and C-Tran staff have listed 17th as their preferred choice.
Heidi Olsen, who has a home on 17th right where the line would make a turn to cross McLoughlin and a business on 17th and Broadway, encouraged the council to choose McLoughlin. Five residential parcels would be lost if 17th is chosen.
“Both my opinion and home were deemed expendable,” Olsen said. “Seventeenth is a livable community; it is irresponsible of the city of Vancouver to fully change it.”
Lawyer Dale Reed Jr., who has an office on McLoughlin, said 17th was the best choice. Four commercial properties, affecting eight businesses, would be taken out should light rail run down McLoughlin.
“There will be significant impact no matter where this alignment goes,” he said, but noted that 17th has vacant lots and could develop around the light rail line. “Seventeenth does seem to make more sense.”
City staff told the council this month that both alignments were nearly an identical choice, each with its own set of drawbacks.
Light rail was approved by the council in 2008 as part of the locally preferred alternative for the Columbia River Crossing, the planned new Interstate 5 bridge.
The total cost of light rail construction is estimated to be $900 million, with $750 million expected to come from the federal government and $150 million from Oregon and Washington. Voters will likely vote on the operations funding next year as part of a C-Tran 20-year operations levy.
Light rail would run from downtown Portland to Clark College, bringing northbound traffic up Broadway and south down Washington Street, before putting both eastbound and westbound trains on either McLoughlin Boulevard or 17th Street.
The alignment plans for both McLoughlin and 17th Street show the light rail running in the center of the road, meaning some driveways and numerous left turns will be blocked. Planners have said that some parking could be salvaged on 17th, while it would be eliminated on McLoughlin.
McLoughlin is zoned for community commercial use; 17th is mixed commercial.
The Vancouver Working Group, a citizens panel convened to study light rail alignment, made McLoughlin the preferred route in a narrow 9-8 vote last fall. But five people did not attend the vote, and later half of the group’s 22 members signed a minority report calling for light rail on 17th Street.
Staff from C-Tran and the city said they recommend 17th because there is vacant land for a future light rail station.
The cost to build on McLoughlin would be about $3 million more than on 17th, Jeff Hamm, C-Tran executive director, said.
But because the 17th alignment requires a sharp curve to reach the Interstate 5 underpass, it adds seven seconds to the estimated 44-minute trip from downtown Portland — adding about $190,000 a year to the operating costs of the 17th Street route.
