North Bay rail transit planners are expecting to get an earful of opinions and ideas Saturday when they consider building the line in stages rather than all at once.
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit agency is $350 million short of the funds necessary to build a 70-mile commute line from Larkspur to Cloverdale by 2014.
One option to be discussed by the agency's board at a workshop in Santa Rosa on Saturday would be to first run trains from Railroad Square in Santa Rosa to the Marin Civic Center, and then extend the railroad as additional money becomes available.
Biking advocates will be at the meeting to lobby for the accompanying bike path, train supporters want the entire 70 miles, even if it is bare-bones, and Railroad Square residents are concerned about parking if the line ends there.
"I am expecting a very full theater, full of people passionate about the train," said SMART Chairwoman Debora Fudge. "What I am hoping is that at the end of the meeting we will have given staff direction on an initial length of line, and we will all be on the same page and with the same information."
Constructing the rail line, including buying the rail cars, is now expected to cost $695 million.
Because of the recession, however, there is only $410 million expected from bond sales, a quarter-cent sales tax approved by Marin-Sonoma voters, and other revenues. SMART has already spent $47 million on design, engineering and administration and $13 million on reconstruction of the CalPark tunnel, leaving $350 million to build the line - resulting in a gap of close to $350 million.
One option being considered is to build the line 40 miles from Railroad Square in Santa Rosa to the Marin Civic Center, at a cost of $395 million. The line could later be extended to Cloverdale, for an additional $218 million, and to Larkspur, at a cost of $69 million.
Jack Swearengen, president of Friends of SMART, said his group believes that SMART should commit to building the full 70-mile rail line, even if it means temporary stations, running slower over existing bridges and scaling back the Santa Rosa maintenance yard.
Swearengen also said the cities that benefit with increased property values and opportunities for businesses should contribute as well.
"We will try to persuade SMART that we can start it up on the entire line, maybe with not all of the bells and whistles," Swearengen said. "That is what we want."
Allen Thomas, vice president of the West End Neighborhood Association adjacent to Railroad Square, is afraid that a northern terminus in central Santa Rosa will create parking problems.
"If Railroad Square is the end of the line, where are the people from Windsor and Sebastopol going to park? And who knows if it is three years or five years or 10 years to extend the line?" Thomas asked. "We are excited to have the train come, it is a tremendous amenity, but we don't want to be overwhelmed by it."
Christine Culver of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition said her organization supports building the pathway, at a cost of $99 million, as the line is built in segments.
"We want to make sure the pathway is done. It needs to be part of the main project, it is what people voted for," Culver said. "The path is a critical element in our transportation plan. It will make it so much easier for people to use the bike path for transportation up and down Sonoma County."
The meeting is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa.
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