Train, Train Go Away
Since breaking the story about Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s plan to lay double tracks through downtown Parkville, The Luminary has reported on the evolution of the plan and the various reactions by local officials, residents and stakeholders.
There are various scenarios. One scenario, championed almost exclusively by developer Tom Hutsler and the Doyle family, advocates moving the train tracks south of the English Landing Centre, opening the property south of FF Highway to commercial development. The developers of that property would be – you guessed it – Mr. Hutsler and the Doyles. This scenario also would destroy the park in which Lewis and Clark once slept and replace the incredible vista that exists between the picturesque Park University campus, the Missouri River and English Landing Park – a park that is widely considered not only the best in the area, but the entire city.
Another scenario calls for combining the additional train track with a “downtown bypass” of sorts, utilizing a portion of the park and some of the land to the west of Parkville in the flood plain. This scenario requires a multi-million dollar feat of engineering that, for a city the size of Parkville, would be akin to building the Aswan Dam. But the real challenge of that scenario would be working with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), the wards of 9 Hwy and the bypass in question.
The third scenario – and the one most likely to occur – is that BNSF adds a second train track through the park, taking about 20 feet of park land to the south of the existing track, throughout the length of the park.
I was as concerned and as outraged about the train expansion plan as anybody else, but really, the more I studied the park and compared our community to others, the more I realized the addition of the second track is not the Armageddon it is made out to be.
BNSF has a federal mandate to handle the amount of coal that uses their tracks every day, and they estimate, during this wartime climate and increased emphasis on an American-controlled supply of energy, that their loads will increase 50 percent during the next few years. The second track is going to widen the pipe and allow those trains to move through quicker. Without it, there would be an unconscionable amount of traffic in the downtown area and a true safety issue as the trains would cutoff the park and English Landing Centre from emergency personnel.
Most cities have two tracks running through their town, and it’s not that big of a deal. To me, the city should be negotiating with BNSF for replacement of the park land at another spot in the vicinity and they should focus on the other acronym in this equation: KCP&L.
When you survey the park as it stands right now, you will quickly notice that the biggest eyesore and obstruction are the Kansas City Power and Light power lines that run through the park. If the train does move south, it is likely that the lines will have to move south, too. Even though there is plenty of room to the north of the tracks, to move the lines there would require an easement from MoDOT, and the officials I have spoken to tell me that is a difficult proposition. Another option would be to bury the lines at a cost in the vicinity of $1.5 million.
Assuming BNSF won’t ante up and set the precedent of paying for those lines, the goal of the city – including the residents and stakeholders – would be to raise that $1.5 million and get those lines underground. A grass-roots effort could be undertaken by the Parkville Community Development Corporation, for instance. Surely now that Piropos Briarcliff is successfully under way, PCDC Chairman Gary Worden has an empty plate that he is looking to fill with various government projects. Likewise, PCDC President Siobhann Williams no doubt will want to jump feet first into the project in addition to her Platte County Auditor campaign schedule.
A partnership between KCP&L and the city could be arranged – if only we had someone sitting on the Parkville Board of Aldermen who was a high ranking KCP&L executive that lived in Riss Lake and was named Dave McCoy.
Lastly, a bond issue could be proposed to the voters. They voted to improve City Hall, and the Certificates of Participation cost $2.45 million in that instance. Besides, what’s $1.5 million to Parkville? That’s a home raffle in The National Golf Club. Heck, I helped raise a cool million dollars for Jane Goodall and if we can raise that sort of scratch for a famed chimp wonk, I’m sure it can be used to improve the Parkville view shed, too.