A public meeting on the topic of the 29th Avenue Central Corridor LRT station will be held Thursday, Feb. 28, 7–9 p.m. at St. Frances Cabrini Church, 1500 Franklin Ave. SE.

Planners for the Central Corridor Light-rail Transit (LRT) have eliminated two options for the configuration of the 29th Avenue Southeast LRT station in Prospect Park, citing “significant impact to properties” around the future site of the platform. However, the remaining option still effects businesses and property and may not please some Prospect Park business owners and residents.

The design of the station has been the topic of two public meetings.

The original configuration proposed in the April 2006 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is no longer feasible, said Robin Cauffman, manager of public involvement for the project, because it would not allow for three-car platforms, which would block the entrance to the parking ramp at the northwest corner of 29th Avenue Southeast and Southeast Fourth Street.

The DEIS option would have put the tracks down the middle of 29th Avenue; a second option that was also scrapped moved the line to the east, leaving one lane of traffic open.

The remaining configuration being considered by Central Corridor planners puts the station even further to the east, giving the advantage of two-way traffic (one lane in each direction) on 29th Avenue, said Cauffman. While this configuration minimizes impact on property on the west side of the street, it pushes the station closer to buildings and businesses on the east side.

Prior to a Feb. 12 meeting about the station, Prospect Park residents and business owners posted comments to the neighborhood e-list, voicing concern about the impact to businesses, particularly those in the former Kemps building, which now houses Anytime Fitness, Overflow Espresso Café and a Children’s Village Montessori school. The current option for the station would not affect the buildings themselves (as it would others nearby) but would likely impact a parking lot, access and a pond built just last year with the opening of Overflow.

Cauffman said that Central Corridor planners have been in talks with property owners since August 2007, and that they will work with property owners on parking and access. Another option to position the station nearer to the parking lot near the “northwest quadrant” of 29th Avenue and Fourth Street was considered, she said, but it would in turn negatively impact other properties.

Yet another option, said Laura Baenen, communications manager for the project, is to eliminate the station completely. “If you can’t get some sort of a consensus, the other alternative is to scrap it altogether,” she said. “The howls of protest [from neighborhood stakeholders] have been even louder for that.”

last revised: February 26, 2008

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