[facebook] Citizens raise concerns about the possibility of taxpayer dollars being spent as RTD continues in pushing forward with a possible relocation of the planned and approved Goldline Federal EAST station to a site allegedly chosen by The TOD Group (headed by a Louisiana developer), approximately a quarter mile west of Federal buried in a wetland / wildlife habitat area.
Adams Co. neighborhood divided on possible rail station move across street
RTD officials are considering two sites for a planned Gold Line commuter-rail station, and their deliberations pit those promoting mixed-use development on one side of Federal Boulevard against some who want to attack blight on the other.
The proposed station area on the east side of Federal near West 60th Avenue in unincorporated Adams County is populated by used-car lots and industrial storage yards.
Only a short distance away, the possible west-side site is wooded and more pastoral, with Clear Creek and an accompanying bicycle and pedestrian trail coursing through the area.
Both locations sit astride a Union Pacific Railroad line that will be a shared right of way for the Regional Transportation District’s $517 million rail line between Union Station and Ward Road in Wheat Ridge.
A multimillion-dollar RTD environmental study settled on the industrial Federal East location for the station.
Yet when a developer acquired several land parcels on the west side of Federal and requested that RTD shift the station there to help foster mixed- use “transit-oriented development” on his site, RTD agreed to consider the move and won Federal Transit Administration support for the possible switch.
That decision angered and mobilized some who live close to the Federal West site.
“Who wins with a West station?” said Kim Gillan, leader of a group fighting the station shift. “The land dealer, who has absolutely no intention of building anything on that property. The out-of-state land dealer is merely rezoning and flipping the property.”
Gillan added about the east-side site: “The community loses because we have one chance to revitalize a blighted area.”
Read more: Adams Co. neighborhood divided on possible rail station move across street – The Denver Post
