TAMC Rail Policy Committee Meeting Summary

June, 2004

Reported by Chris Flescher - RailPAC Monterey/Santa Cruz Representative

A group, Marina Community Partners (MCP) is planning to develop an area that used to be part of Fort Ord and someone from that group spoke at the TAMC meeting about their tentative plans. They are designing an area that is next to what will probably be the University Villages train station. MCP is very interested in linking the area to transit and making it pedestrian friendly.

The plan now includes a median in a street that will pass the train station, which will allow for a future light rail line or a peoplemover system. MCP seems very interested in creating something that everyone in the nearby area will support. One main question is whether or not to place the University Villages train station on the east or west side of the 1 Freeway. The preliminary plans place it to the West. TAMC thinks that a station to the east would tie in better with future development, however it would be harder to get there from the freeway. Because of a loop track to the South, running future trains all the way to Monterey might be slowed significantly for an east side station.

A subcommittee of TAMC has been studying plans to remake the Salinas train station into an intermodal transit center, by bringing the MST bus terminal and Greyhound bus station to the same location. (Now they are a few blocks away). The subcommittee has expressed support for a certain design, called Conceptual Plan #17, and they will discuss it with the Salinas city council soon (I think July 8) and the MST board of directors (I think sometime in August).

There are about 6 privately owned parcels of land that TAMC would have to buy, under this plan. One very good thing about this plan is that in the future, some surface parking could be replaced by a garage, which would free up some land for transit-oriented development. When this planning started a few years ago, (I think) federal new starts funding wasn't available for buying land to build TOD, but now some is available.

When TAMC finishes the planning documents, it will apply for this funding. This plan requires more land than the previous plans, so there are more chances for landowners to oppose selling their land, which can create delays.

The main other concern now is the location of the future Castroville station. TAMC wants it at site #2, for several reasons, including the fact that more people can easily walk there. However, the state Coastal Commission apparently has a policy of avoiding any development on farms in certain areas (maybe floodplains) and the site #2 is in one such zone. So, they really want the station at site #1.

My understanding of the situation is that if elected officials can present a very strong case that the site with farms is much better, the Commission may allow development. There are going to be two meetings on this topic, on June 23 and 30. The first one will involve the general public and the second will be between the Commission, TAMC, the County Redevelopment Authority, and possibly a few other groups. There are several strong reasons that TAMC wants site #2. One is that there is a lot of loading of large trucks next to site #1.

Putting a station would add lots of car and pedestrian traffic to where trucks are turning around, which would delay the trucks a lot, and make collisions likely. Near site #2, the town wants to create a pedestrian undercrossing (under the tracks) to serve two schools.

It could be built as part of the station, which would save a lot of money. A county commissioner wants to look at exactly which farmland could be lost before he decides if he will support the station.


RailPAC Contacts Publications Issues Meeting Reports 2004 Reports 2004-11 Monterey 2004-11 San Joaquin 2004-09 Coast Rail 2004-09-15 Capitol 2004-09 San Joaquin 2004-08 Coast Rail 2004-07 San Joaquin 2004-06 TAMC 2004-04-26 Coast Rail 2004-04-21 Capitol 2004-04-13 LOSSAN 2004-04-13 CAHSRA 2004-03-23 Fresno Station 2004-03-12 San Joaquin 2004-02-18 Capitol 2004-02-02 Monterey 2004-01-09 San Joaquin 2004-01-07 LOSSAN Membership Links	TAMC Rail Policy Committee Meeting Summary June, 2004 Reported by Chris Flescher - RailPAC Monterey/Santa Cruz Representative A group, Marina Community Partners (MCP) is planning to develop an area that used to be part of Fort Ord and someone from that group spoke at the TAMC meeting about their tentative plans. They are designing an area that is next to what will probably be the University Villages train station. MCP is very interested in linking the area to transit and making it pedestrian friendly. The plan now includes a median in a street that will pass the train station, which will allow for a future light rail line or a peoplemover system. MCP seems very interested in creating something that everyone in the nearby area will support. One main question is whether or not to place the University Villages train station on the east or west side of the 1 Freeway. The preliminary plans place it to the West. TAMC thinks that a station to the east would tie in better with future development, however it would be harder to get there from the freeway. Because of a loop track to the South, running future trains all the way to Monterey might be slowed significantly for an east side station. A subcommittee of TAMC has been studying plans to remake the Salinas train station into an intermodal transit center, by bringing the MST bus terminal and Greyhound bus station to the same location. (Now they are a few blocks away). The subcommittee has expressed support for a certain design, called Conceptual Plan #17, and they will discuss it with the Salinas city council soon (I think July 8) and the MST board of directors (I think sometime in August). There are about 6 privately owned parcels of land that TAMC would have to buy, under this plan. One very good thing about this plan is that in the future, some surface parking could be replaced by a garage, which would free up some land for transit-oriented development. When this planning started a few years ago, (I think) federal new starts funding wasn't available for buying land to build TOD, but now some is available. When TAMC finishes the planning documents, it will apply for this funding. This plan requires more land than the previous plans, so there are more chances for landowners to oppose selling their land, which can create delays. The main other concern now is the location of the future Castroville station. TAMC wants it at site #2, for several reasons, including the fact that more people can easily walk there. However, the state Coastal Commission apparently has a policy of avoiding any development on farms in certain areas (maybe floodplains) and the site #2 is in one such zone. So, they really want the station at site #1. My understanding of the situation is that if elected officials can present a very strong case that the site with farms is much better, the Commission may allow development. There are going to be two meetings on this topic, on June 23 and 30. The first one will involve the general public and the second will be between the Commission, TAMC, the County Redevelopment Authority, and possibly a few other groups. There are several strong reasons that TAMC wants site #2. One is that there is a lot of loading of large trucks next to site #1. Putting a station would add lots of car and pedestrian traffic to where trucks are turning around, which would delay the trucks a lot, and make collisions likely. Near site #2, the town wants to create a pedestrian undercrossing (under the tracks) to serve two schools. It could be built as part of the station, which would save a lot of money. A county commissioner wants to look at exactly which farmland could be lost before he decides if he will support the station.
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