The Virginian-Pilot
©
CHESAPEAKE
Unwilling to spend $350,000, the City Council postponed a plan to seek $1.4 million in federal money to study the possibility of extending light rail to the suburban city.
Instead, the council decided to revisit the idea next year.
"We've got time on this thing," Councilman Rick West said during Tuesday night's meeting. "We've got the luxury of not having to rush to judgment."
Mayor Alan Krasnoff, who suggested that the city defer the issue for a year, said more time will allow more residents to comment.
It will also give city officials time to craft a strategy to pay for the study if the council decides it wants to move forward.
The study would examine the cost and feasibility of extending light rail to the city's South Norfolk or Greenbrier areas.
The decision comes a day after Hampton Roads Transit withdrew a request for Virginia Beach to spend $244,800 on a light- rail study. HRT will instead get the cash from a fund that includes money from member localities.
At least one Chesapeake council member has said her concerns about the study were related to problems and cost overruns on Norfolk's light-rail project.
The cost of that project has risen to $338.3 million, 46 percent more than original estimates.
"Would you invest money into something that is already 47 percent over budget in our neighboring city?" Chesapeake resident Jack King asked the council.
Less than three months ago, the council voted to pursue the study after being told that it would cost the city nothing. Council members changed their tune after learning that Chesapeake would have to provide a non-federal match of about $350,000.
New HRT President Philip Shucet said Virginia Beach applied for and received federal money with the understanding that HRT would pay for the $6.6 million study. So far, about $1.5 million has been spent.
In contrast, Chesapeake leaders were told they would need to come up with a non-federal match before applying for federal money, he said.
Mike Saewitz, (757)222-5207, or mike.saewitz@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
Chesapeake taxpayers get a break
"Mayor Alan Krasnoff, who suggested that the city defer the issue for a year, said more time will allow more residents to comment."
Well done Chesapeake city council.
You can always spend the hundreds of millions of dollars later.
here it comes.....
if you can no longer grab your ankles put your hands in the air, the choo choo is coming and you're about to be robbed..
Just got up!
After falling off my chair with the shock of City council not wasting money during hard times!
The first study is (and traffic lights)
Over exagerated as to how many people will ride the train, and how much it will cost.
It's done to get the taxpayers excited, and to find Federal funding.
It's made public, but you have to really look for it; it won't be newsworthy. The second study is done half way to completion, and the number of riders drops, while the cost to maintain goes up.
They do another study that is made public directly after the first year the train is in service. It will show that the number of riders is higher than expected, and the cost to maintain is lower. This final study is based on the second study.
THAT is the reason the studies cost so much. You have to know how and when to manipulate the numbers so that the study favors the outcome you are looking for.
Apparently the traffic lights will favor light rail over vehicle traffic as well. Some other cities have complained of waits as long as 20 minutes long due to light rail.
Chesapeake Light Rail
Good call! This thing has turned out to be a very expensive experiment that no one even knows will be used. Exactly how are we in Chesapeake going to be helped by this thing? I would favor completely dropping out of the thing now.
Kudos to Chesapeake City
Kudos to Chesapeake City council.
A great idea to wait (at least) a year to see how this fiasco develops in the neighboring cities.
It is refreshing to see the council members SAY they want another year to get public input.
Refreshing
It is so refreshing to hear there is a city council out there that has fiscal responsibility, and understands fuduciary duty toward taxpayers.
Chesapeake has raised the bar to a level that VB council could never meet or understand. The Chesapeake council has apparenty not been brainwashed by developers who pull strings to make them dance.
"Would you invest money into something that is already 47 percent over budget....". Virginia Beach will, blindly and without thinking.
Different Situations
First of all, we have an existing rail line running east to west through the Beach. Not to take advantage of that asset would be a travesty for the tax payers of the City. Second, light rail is being extended to Virginia Beach through Norfolk, and since Virginia is out of the road building business, this will be our only alternative for new capacity in the I-264 corridor. Third, Virginia Beach has no intention of letting an unresponsive project manager be in charge of this project, and has shown by the construction of the VB Convention Center that it can bring in a complex $200,000,000 project on budget and on time. Now Chesapeake can fail to plan for the future, but the Beach will not be caught in that trap, and most citizens who understand the concept of strategic planning understand that. That's why we have better programs and services and a much lower tax rate; leadership really does pay dividends.
Easy solution
Eliminate the entire useless Economic Development department and use that $. We could pay for the whole project, property, rail, train and all!
shifting the burden
The Economic Development department is the department that takes action for the future. It is best if we increased their budget.
I want to have our property values to increase due to demand. The good thing for the city is that means more revenue.
The Economic Development idea works. They are the salespersons for the city. They are the commercials that goes to the businesses to bring them here.