Sound Transit’s design for a commuter rail line from Tacoma Dome Station to Lakewood is dividing city leaders and residents and creating an election-season stir.

The debate is likely to erupt again Tuesday evening when the Tacoma City Council holds a public hearing on the master development agreement between Sound Transit and the city. The council is expected to vote on the issue Oct. 13.

Opponents – including business owners and neighborhood council leaders – dispute the transit agency’s plans to use an earthen berm to elevate the Sounder train through the Dome District, a move they believe will squelch potential in an area that’s ripe for growth.

“The problem with the dirt wall is it divides the city, it stops development,” said Pierson Clair, president and CEO of candymaker Brown & Haley. He fears the company’s operations will be hemmed in by the embankment.

Berm opponents favor elevating the line using a monorail-style riser – also known as post and beam – through the neighborhood. Putting the tracks on an earth bank is an ugly example of a city and a regional transit authority not listening to their constituents, opponents say.

Not so, counter Sound Transit officials. They point out that they’ve spent more time on the 1.4-mile, $161 million segment of track from East D to South M streets than on any other portion of the 8.2-mile route.

Decisions to carry the rail on an overpass over busy Pacific Avenue, bridge the East B Street ravine and create a pedestrian avenue under the line on East A Street stemmed from extensive meetings with the public, Sound Transit capital projects director Jim Edwards said.

Plans have been considerably modified from original inceptions, which put the train on grade-level tracks across Pacific Avenue, Downtown Tacoma’s main thoroughfare. The city wanted a bridge over the road; Sound Transit agreed but then needed to gradually elevate the track en route to the overpass. All of that will cost millions more, they said.

The berm is the safest, least costly, most efficient way to elevate the tracks through the Dome District, Edwards said. Sound Transit officials also dispute whether the post-and-beam design would work for hefty commuter trains.

No one, including City Council members who want to move ahead with the long-promised line to Lakewood, thinks putting a railroad through the heart of a city will be pretty.

Leaders must “put as much lipstick on the pig as we can and do it with the least amount of disruption” to the city and its neighborhoods, said City Councilman Jake Fey.

Commuter rail from Lakewood to Everett was promised in the $4 billion multifaceted transit package approved by South Sound voters in 1996. The $240million route from Freighthouse Square to Lakewood is the only commuter rail segment not completed; Tacoma-to-Seattle rail service began in 2003.

POLITICAL ISSUE

In the City Council audience Tuesday night, and speaking on behalf of the post-and-beam elevated railway, will be architect and mayoral candidate Jim Merritt. He’s made the issue one of the stanchions of his platform.

On the dais will be his opponent, Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland, who voted with a unanimous council last January on project recommendations for Sound Transit. The ultimate decision was left to the agency, but the city said it wanted the post-and-beam design where it made sense in the corridor.

Strickland sees this more as an opportunity to make the best of the final product – whatever it is – rather than a story of “heroes and villains.”

The mayoral race and Sound Transit’s push to complete design of the corridor are on somewhat parallel tracks. The city will elect a new mayor Nov. 3; Sound Transit wants to complete design and solicit bids on the Freighthouse Square-to-South M Street portion of the corridor by the end of the year. That timetable is necessary to get construction under way by spring so service can begin by summer 2012, Edwards said.

The project is already more than 75 percent designed. Any alterations now could cause Sound Transit to lose an entire construction season, jeopardizing $24 million in time-contingent grant funds and choking off chances for winning more, Edwards and others said.

Dome District proponents of the beam-elevated track have engineers Tom Warren and Eric Stensrud rushing to complete an alternative plan.

And members of the Southwest Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects are designing a three-dimensional computer model they say will dramatically depict the difference between post-and-beam and berm construction. The beam-elevated track is more attractive, and because you can see beneath, there’s a greater feeling of openness in the area, supporters say.

They’ve scheduled a public meeting at 5 p.m. Monday to unveil that work.

“There is time to intervene until they’re shoveling dirt,” said Dome District President Keith Stone, promising plans and estimates that will prove a post-and-beam alternative can be achieved without major increases in cost or construction delays.

‘DO IT RIGHT’

Transit officials insist they’ve thoroughly vetted a project that’s already 13 years removed from the public vote that created it and well down the track to completion.

All together, agency officials met with the public on the issue – from small meetings with area business owners to large hearings before public bodies to all-comers open houses – 89 times since 2005, Sound Transit communications director Ron Klein said.

But opponents in the Dome District and neighborhood groups citywide complain they’re being pushed into an inferior design.

Merritt complains Sound Transit didn’t listen but rather came to meetings with predetermined plans. “It wasn’t a process of public engagement; it was show and tell,” he said.

The issue “must be put back on the table,” and he’ll work to do that if he’s elected, Merritt said. “We’ll see how we can work things out in an open collaborative way.”

A group calling itself “Do It Right Tacoma” has a Web site and is soliciting anti-berm signatures on a petition.

Residents in the city’s southern reaches want the rail line, of course, said longtime South End Neighborhood Council Chairman Skip Vaughn.

But he also says “it’s never too late” to listen to the people. “They’ve kind of left us out in the cold,” he said of Sound Transit. “We went to a lot of meetings, and they listened to us, but they didn’t seem to be paying attention.”

Community groups have written letters pleading for post-and-beam construction.

“We hope you will take our suggestions to heart when deciding the future of the Dome District,” Bill Garl, chairman of the citywide Community Council, wrote to Sound Transit in July. “This should continue to be a beautiful habitat corridor, a bustling business and residential area, and a district with great potential.”

Elevated railroad tracks on beams would be best for development and “not split the downtown in two sections like berm construction will,” he added. Nearly identical letters went out from the Northeast Tacoma, East Side and West End neighborhood councils.

LONG TRAIN COMING

Mayor Bill Baarsma responded by letter Sept. 9, laying out all the changes already made to accommodate city and resident requests and pointing out the D-to-M Street corridor project cost has ballooned over the years from $76 million to $161 million. He noted the economic benefits to the community, including 320 construction jobs.

Baarsma, along with City Council members Fey, Strickland, Julie Anderson and Connie Ladenburg, all told The News Tribune they want Sound Transit’s commitment to a well-maintained rail line that’s as aesthetically pleasing and development-friendly as possible.

Ladenburg said “the people have been heard,” changes have been made and it’s time to build the rail line. She promises to watch the progress and ensure that Sound Transit builds a bridge over Pacific Avenue that’s pleasing to the eye and that a berm retaining wall under I-705 doesn’t become a graffiti magnet.

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy, a member of the Sound Transit board, believes many of the issues raised by the public have been addressed.

“This provides a critical connection for Downtown Tacoma south to Lakewood,” she said Sept. 24 when the board added money to the project budget, once again blessing the plan.

Strickland won’t divulge how she’ll vote on the agreement now before the City Council, but points out that elected officials are morally and fiscally responsible for moving a long-delayed project along. And there are many other issues in the city to focus on in the mayor’s race, she believes.

Then she adds of the rail line, “It’s coming. It’s on its way, but I think there are opportunities here.”

“We’ll have a terminus at the Tacoma Dome and we’ll have a terminus in South Tacoma. We’ll have more people coming” through all of Tacoma and downtown, Strickland said.

Kris Sherman: 253:5970-8659

kris.sherman@thenewstribune.com

Talking trains

Two public meetings are planned this week on the issue of Sound Transit’s commuter rail line from Tacoma Dome Station to Lakewood:

 • 5 p.m. Monday: Dome District and American Institute of Architects representatives present computer models depicting how they see the difference between a rail line on an earthen berm and one on beams supported by pillars or posts. Best Western Tacoma Dome Hotel, 2611 E. E St.

 • 5 p.m. Tuesday: Public hearing before the Tacoma City Council on the development agreement between Sound Transit and the City of Tacoma for the rail project. Tacoma City Hall, 747 Market St.

For information: www.cityof tacoma.org; www.soundtransit.org.

Berm vs. beam

Both sides of the debate over Sounder train routing proffer experts declaring different cost estimates, timelines and aesthetics. Here's how they come down on the core issues.
Can post-and-beam architecture carry heavy rail?
Sound Transit: No. Not in this particular space that includes putting the railroad under a freeway. The beams would have to be much too thick and expensive to carry 285,000-pound locomotives, Sound Transit capital projects director Jim Edwards said. He and other transit officials believe the post-and-beam proponents are confusing Link light rail and its elevated tracks in Seattle with the heavier standard train commuter system.
Post-and-beam proponents: Yes. Supporters cite BNSF schematics of ready-made beams that could carry the load and be installed atop pillars that can be driven into the soil relatively quickly.
Will post and beam cost a lot more?
Sound Transit: Yes. The agency's technical memorandum on post-and-beam construction, prepared by the infrastructure planning and consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff in June, concluded it would cost from $1 million to $4 million more, depending on the method and materials used.
Sound Transit engineer Eric Beckman, however, told a City Council committee Sept. 23 that changing plans now could cost up to $25 million if you calculate delays and the possibility of lost grants. He said later that was "a rough estimate on the fly," Sound Transit spokeswoman Linda Robson reported.
Still, agency officials up and down the line believe re-engineering costs would be great and there would be a tangible loss of faith with commuters in South Tacoma and Lakewood who've waited years for rail service from their communities to Seattle and Everett.
Post-and-beam proponents: No. Tacoma engineer David Talcott of Huitt-Zollars Inc. says he believes "post and beam would be slightly more expensive." But he also thinks there are still unknown expenses in the berm method that could offset the differences. Post and beam is not an entire redesign, he and others say, but merely an extension of the plans to bridge East A Street, the East B Street ravine and Pacific Avenue. Engineer Tom Warren promises at least a rough cost estimate on a post-and-beam proposal this week.
Will a berm artificially divide the neighborhood, create blight and pose safety issues?
Sound Transit: No. Plans were developed with input from city engineers, planners, elected officials and residents, the agency says. The plans provide good flexibility for high-rise development adjacent to the rail line in an area the city envisions as a transit hub, residential and commercial center, transit officials say.
"I think that the solution the city and Sound Transit have arrived at cooperatively is the best and most practical solution for completing the project," said City Councilwoman Julie Anderson, a former Dome District director who now serves on the Sound Transit board.
Transit officials maintain the berm will be attractively landscaped with the help of the Cascade Land Conservancy and won't create spaces under overhead rail lines for hobo camps or criminal activity. Post-and-beam proponents: Yes, it will split the neighborhood. "There are some really strong feelings about how the berm is going to affect the Dome District," said Randy Cook, president of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He and others believe anyone who sees the architects' three-dimensional program showing the differences in the two concepts will be immediately convinced post and beam is the best option.
Mayoral candidate Jim Merritt gives a tour of the area, pointing out existing railroad berms with unkempt and wild vegetation. He foresees weed-choked embankments.
- - -
Kris Sherman, The News Tribune

Tracking a controversy

Map shows the route of the 1.2-mile, $161 million Sound Transit commuter rail line project from Tacoma’s Freighthouse Square to South M Street, where it connects with the rest of the Tacoma-to-Lakewood track. The area is about 2,400 feet running roughly from East D Street to South C Street. Sound Transit says only about 1,000 feet of this section would rest on an earthen berm and most of that would be less than 10 feet high. Design is about 75 percent complete. Opponents say the mass of dirt would hamper development in the corridor.

1. First 1,000 feet of rail from Freighthouse Square is at grade; berm would begin around East C Street, which remains open to traffic.

2. Berm with retaining walls runs under I-705; opponents say it will remove the opportunity for parking under viaduct and kill surrounding development; state says there can’t be any development under freeway.

3.* An overpass estimated at about 150 feet long would cross East B Street ravine; a 52-foot overpass would span A Street with an urban-plaza-style pedestrian and bicycle corridor beneath. Post-and-beam proponents say their plan would avoid closing A Street to vehicles and leave more options for development.

4.* Train runs over Pacific Avenue atop a 178-foot-long bridge; street is lowered for sufficient clearance for traffic to pass beneath span. Opponents say berm-to-bridge configuration would curb development around Pacific Avenue; Sound Transit officials disagree.

5.* South C Street marks end of disputed berm-vs-post-and-beam controversy; road remains open to cars, pedestrians, bicycles – a change from previous plans.

6. New track connects with the rest of the project en route to Lakewood through South Tacoma.

*Overpass at East B Street ravine; pedestrian/bicycle underpass at A Street; bridge over Pacific Avenue; keeping South C Street open to all forms of traffic are changes from original plans.
Kris Sherman, The News Tribune