For more than an hour Tuesday night, the Tacoma City Council listened to residents and business owners urge the council to reconsider the design of a Sound Transit line through downtown.

But the project’s chief engineer told council members the design is complete and shouldn’t be altered.

And if the agency has to revise its plans, it could delay the project for six to nine months and cost up to $28 million, said Jim Edwards, Sound Transit’s capital projects director.

Unhappiness with the so-called “berm” design brought many local residents to a public comment session before the council Tuesday night. It was the 90th meeting held on the subject in the past three years, and time has only deepened the convictions of many speakers that the proposed design is wrong. Some berated the council and Sound Transit for the decision. Others pleaded with the council to hold off. Nearly all spoke against the berm.

“This is a long-term decision. We are going to be living with this rail line for certainly 50 to 100 years,” said Michael Buchanan, who lives near where the proposed rail will run. “A berm is going to be an aesthetic nightmare – there’s no other way to describe it.”

The dispute focuses on the 1.2-mile rail line that will run from D to M streets downtown. The $161 million stretch is part of a 8.2-mile line that will run from Lakewood to Tacoma, a $240 million project that was originally approved by voters in 1996.

For the 1.2-mile stretch, Sound Transit proposed a mound of earth, or berm, to elevate the rail line to cross over Pacific Avenue. Opponents of the plan propose the use of posts and beams to support the rail line, leaving open space under it instead of the mound.

“Everybody talks about a berm. I say it’s a pile of dirt,” opponent Howard Anderson said. “I am kind of appalled and scared. I want someone to stand up and tell Sound Transit that you can build past us, but you’re not going to bury us in dirt.”

City and Sound Transit officials say the project is more than the berm as Pacific Avenue, and that there are more bridges that open it up. It isn’t a decision of one versus the other.

“There seems to be a false reality that we are choosing one over the other and that there is a mutual exclusion,” Deputy Mayor Julie Anderson said. “It’s a mix of construction methods and not just a Great Wall of China of dirt running through the city.”

Public opposition to Sound Transit’s proposal has peaked as the project nears final approval. Opponents say they have been attending previous meetings, and that proposed ideas are being ignored by both Sound Transit and city officials.

“It is your job as elected representatives to listen to the citizens, not Sound Transit,” said Stan Smith, a North End Neighborhood Council representative who said he has worked with Dome District groups in opposing the proposal.

“They didn’t elect you. We did.”

But Sound Transit officials counter that previous meetings have triggered changes.

“The project has changed significantly from what was originally envisioned. I believe these collaborative efforts have made this a better project, even though they have more than doubled the cost and delayed service to Sound Transit customers,” Sound Transit Chief Executive Joni Earl said in a statement that was read at the meeting.

On Monday, Dome District and American Institute of Architecture representatives presented a plan for a post-and-beam approach. Those plans were presented to the City Council on Tuesday, and officials plan to post them on the city’s Web site.

City officials said after the public comments ended they are asking Sound Transit to provide a complete graphic representation of what the entire line will look like, so the public can get a better idea of what the project will be. Also, city engineers and staff will look at the post-and-beam proposal images to see if they are realistic and feasible. Even though the plan is 100 percent done, a vote is planned for the council’s meeting on Oct. 20.

Brian Everstine: 253-597-8374
brian.everstine@thenewstribune.com