Updated Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012
By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

More meetings lie ahead this week as Mecklenburg County’s Red Line Task Force lobbies for support for the proposed 25-mile commuter and freight rail line north of Charlotte. A critical vote could come Tuesday, when commissioners in Iredell County vote on the proposed $452 million plan.

It appears unlikely Iredell County leaders will vote in favor of the rail line, and that could bring a quick end to the latest effort to revive the rail line project. Iredell commissioners haven’t cast any votes yet, at least not formal ones. But they have signaled their lack of interest in the project: None have attended any of the regional meetings held to explain the project.

RELATED: Davidson planning workshop this Tuesday to Friday takes a closer look at potential development along the Red Line corridor. Read more in Real Estate & Home.

Map shows locations of potential stations and financing districts. Click to download the PDF.

Several have spoken out publicly against lending the county’s support to the project. And on Monday, the Charlotte Observer quoted Iredell County Commission chair Steve Johnson as saying, “I’m probably safe to say there’s no support on the Board of Commissioners for it.” (See Joe Marusak’s Jan. 16, 2012, article Fate of rail to Iredell Unclear.”)

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Red Line Task Force worked with consultants over the past year to come up with a new proposal for the long-discussed rail project, which would run from downtown Charlotte to Mount Mourne, near the Lowe’s Corp. headquarters. Supporters now are pitching it as an economic development tool that will incorporate both freight and commuter rail. And with no federal funding in sight, they’ve come up with a financing plan that would split the cost locally. The state DOT and Charlotte Area Transit System would pay 25 percent each – $113 million – while the towns and county government along the line are being asked to adopt policies that would raise the remaining $256 million, or 50 percent.

At a December Red Line “summit” in Mooresville, officials said the project won’t succeed if even one of the area’s town or county governments don’t join in. “It will not work. Period,” John Woods of Davidson said at the time. He is chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Red Line Task Force and Davidson’s mayor.

On Tuesday, Mr. Woods said a “no” vote by the Iredell board would be a “challenge” for the project.  But he was holding out hope that the board might agree to hold off on a final decision until the full three-month review period – January to March – that the Red Line Task Force has set.

But if Iredell commissioners were to say no, he said, “We’d just have to reassess where we are. … We’ve got to have everybody at the table.”

Supporters of the project are concerned that some local officials in the region may not give the project a full hearing. At last Wednesday’s Lake Norman Transportation Commission meeting, Mooresville commissioner Mac Herring suggested the LNTC might write a letter to all the local elected boards encouraging them “to take a good look at this, ask all questions, give time for the process to work and allow time for others to do their due diligence.” The LNTC members agreed that executive director Bill Thunberg should write the letter.

Towns and county governments are being asked to dedicate a portion of future increases in tax revenues from properties along the line to help pay for the line. They’re also being asked to set up Special Assessment Districts, where commercial property owners would be given a chance to vote on whether to assess themselves special fees to help pay for the project. Those financing plans depend on full participating by local governments and, consultants say, on conservative projections about anticipated growth in property values along the line.

Some officials and owners of commercial property are raising questions about those financing plans. (See Jan. 12, “Is rail line worth up-front investment for commercial property owners?”)

Meetings also are scheduled over the next 10 days week with the Huntersville Town Board (Tuesday and next Monday, Jan. 23), Mecklenburg County Commission (Wednesday), the Charlotte City Council (Monday, Jan. 23) as well as business and planning groups. (See a full schedule below.)

RED LINE CALENDAR – JANUARY

TUESDAY, JAN. 17, 6 p.m., Mecklenburg County Commission; 6:30 p.m., Huntersville Town Board; 7 p.m., Iredell Board of Commissioners

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18, noon, Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Red Line Review and Adoption Working Group

MONDAY, JAN. 23, Noon, Huntersville town board work session; 5 p.m., Charlotte City Council; 5:30 p.m. Lake Norman Chamber; 7 p.m., Cornelius Town Board.

TUESDAY, JAN. 24, 10:30 a.m., Mooresville rail review committee; 6 p.m., Davidson Town Board work session and public hearing;

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25, noon, Economic Development Working Group; 3 p.m., MTC Red Line Task Force; 5:30 p.m., Metropolitan Transit Commission.

THURSDAY, JAN. 26, 8:30 a.m., Public Private Partnership workshop; 1:30 p.m., Charlotte Transportation & Planning Committee; 6 p.m., Cornelius Rail Task Force.

Details on these as well as additional meetings in February may be found on the RedLineRegionalRail.org calendar page.

See also the RedLineRegionalRail.org website.

Download a two-page overview fact sheet on the Red Line project (PDF)

Additional coverage in our Red Line rail project archive.”