THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160246
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 61 lines
Just weeks before a light rail proposal is to be submitted to federal authorities, a Chesapeake City Councilman has attempted to derail the project, charging that his city has been slighted.
Dr. Alan P. Krasnoff on Wednesday asked the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission to delay its approval of the project in order to study extending a light rail line to Chesapeake in the first phase of the project.
Krasnoff was acting independently and was not speaking on behalf of Chesapeake's City Council. He did not advocate specific routes.
The regional planning board rejected Krasnoff's plea and voted unanimously to back Tidewater Regional Transit's pursuit of federal funds for a detailed design and planning study of a rail line between Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
With the board's approval, TRT will submit its proposal by the end of the month to the Federal Transit Authority for approval and to Congress for inclusion in its five-year transit plan for funding.
TRT hopes to finish federal reviews and have money in hand to execute a contract for the 18-month study by Oct. 1.
It took Virginia Beach and Norfolk city officials months to agree on the scope of the study. Chesapeake was excluded.
``Chesapeake is the fastest-growing city in the region,'' Krasnoff said. ``To be left out at this point in time would be an injustice to the whole region.''
Jayne Whitney, TRT program management director, said that a spur to Chesapeake as well as to Portsmouth will be examined in the upcoming study. To jump to right-of-way acquisition and construction would be skipping a couple of federally mandated steps.
``There is a very specific process we must follow,'' Whitney said.
The $4 million light rail study will include preliminary engineering and design work on an 18-mile corridor from the Virginia Beach Pavilion to downtown Norfolk. Virginia Beach insisted that it also include a route to Norfolk Naval Base.
``We would like to have that same kind of respect as it relates to Chesapeake,'' Krasnoff said.
The Chesapeake City Council last summer endorsed continuing the light rail study. Virginia Beach endorsed a modified study in December.
L.A. ``Kim'' Kimball, TRT executive director, said that even if there was time to include Chesapeake, federal authorities likely would frown on it.
``It is unlikely we'd be able to get a grant from the government to construct more than one corridor at a time,'' Kimball said. ``Our most likely chance for success is as proposed.''
If the light rail proposal, costing up to $376 million, isn't before federal authorities by the end of the month, the next window of opportunity to vie for funding would not come for another five years. Congress is formulating a five-year plan for transportation projects.
``It may be a legitimate thing to raise, but it's not particularly timely,'' said Joe S. Frank, planning district commission chairman.
After Wednesday's meeting, Krasnoff said he knew time was short, but he decided to ``go for it.''
``But I didn't realize the time was that close,'' he said. ``If I knew, I would have brought it up earlier.''
KEYWORDS: LIGHT RAIL SYSTEM TRT