State extends Peninsula high-speed train planning beyond rail line (Source: Inside Bay Area)

State extends Peninsula high-speed train planning beyond rail line - Inside Bay Area

State extends Peninsula high-speed train planning beyond rail line
By Mike Rosenberg
San Mateo County Times
Posted: 11/03/2009 06:56:12 PM PST
Updated: 11/03/2009 07:56:09 PM PST

BURLINGAME — The image of the state's bullet train ripping apart Peninsula communities in the next decade has once again spurred local leaders into action, this time with a planning process usually applied to freeway construction.

At the request of council members from five Peninsula cities, the California High-Speed Rail Authority and Caltrain have hired a national planning expert to investigate the train's impact on cities beyond the areas next to the train tracks.

The aim of the planning process is to ensure the high-speed train, which will run along the Caltrain line from San Francisco to San Jose, does not ruin the fabric of current Peninsula communities, said Burlingame Councilwoman Terry Nagel.

In addition to the expert consultant, the process will involve local stakeholders from all walks of life, and include a Web site where they can offer ideas.

Nagel helped spur the process as part of the Peninsula Cities Consortium, which consists of officials from Burlingame, Belmont, Menlo Park, Atherton and Palo Alto. The consortium, the state and Caltrain will host public meetings on the planning process today and again Friday, both in Burlingame.

The project will be subject to years of review under state and federal environmental laws. But this latest process, dubbed "context sensitive solutions," will take into account entire cities along the Caltrain line and their makeup — not just the area next to the
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train tracks, Nagel said.

"It's a more in-depth community collaborative process than is usually used on projects," she said.

The Federal Highway Administration in 2003 told all states to use the process by 2007.

It is the first time it has been used on a rail project, though, and will not be applied to other portions of the high-speed train line, Nagel said.

"We feel that we finally are empowering the public, the people who are being affected by the rail line," Nagel said. "Instead of being passive, we will have an active role in the process."

Parsons Brinckerhoff Senior Vice President Hal Kassoff, who the consortium said is a nationally known context sensitive solutions expert from Washington, D.C., will speak at Burlingame City Hall from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today. He will give a shorter presentation at Friday's consortium meeting at 8:45 a.m. at Burlingame City Hall.

Mike Rosenberg covers San Mateo, Burlingame, Belmont and transportation issues. Reach him at 650-348-4324.