Rail stations touted as lures

Area residents can hear more about the commuter rail plan, and offer their comments, at three public information sessions:

Feb. 5 at Gateway Technical College's Racine campus

Feb. 7 at Gateway's Kenosha campus

Feb. 8 at Milwaukee's Downtown Transit Center

Sessions run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in open-house format, with formal presentations at 6 and 7 p.m.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By LARRY SANDLER
lsandler@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Jan. 24, 2007

A proposed southeastern Wisconsin commuter rail line has excellent prospects for attracting development around stations, a national expert said Wednesday.

National trends indicate stronger demand for housing and businesses within walking distance of train stations, particularly in big metropolitan areas like Chicago, said Shelley Poticha, president of Reconnecting America.

By connecting to Chicago's Metra commuter trains, "this line is perfect for this," if planners coordinate development with rail service, Poticha said of the proposed KRM Commuter Link.

The KRM line would connect Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and the southern suburbs with 14 round trips each weekday, providing local service for traveling to jobs, schools and shops. Passengers could transfer to Metra at Kenosha or Waukegan, Ill., and shuttle buses would link the Cudahy depot to Mitchell International Airport.

But the plan is at a critical point, as the new Regional Transit Authority struggles to reach a consensus on how to pay for it. The line would cost $200 million to build and $11 million a year to operate, although supporters think federal and state aid and fares would cover most of that, leaving the authority to raise about $5 million a year.

Authority members have shelved a proposal to levy a sales tax of up to 0.5% in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties, to pay for the train line and to wean local bus systems off the property tax. A Milwaukee Common Council committee today will discuss whether to oppose any attempt to create a new tax for the KRM line without also funding the Milwaukee County Transit System.

Poticha's organization encourages connections between trains, intercity buses, airports and the communities they serve. She delivered speeches Wednesday to developers in Milwaukee and to the public in Racine.

Commuter rail lines are benefiting from two major trends, Poticha told Journal Sentinel editors and reporters.

First, the population is aging, becoming more diverse and waiting longer to have children, increasing the ranks of people who want to live near public transit, Poticha said. Reconnecting America predicts 10 million U.S. households will want to live within walking distance of a train station by 2030, with increased demand in the Chicago-Milwaukee region trailing only the New York and Boston areas, she said.

Second, public transit ridership is growing, Poticha noted. In 2005, transit ridership hit its highest point since 1997, and ridership grew an additional 3% in the first nine months of 2006.

To take advantage of those trends, local planners need to avoid mistakes made by other regions, Poticha said. For example, she said, housing near train stations should be aimed at people of all ages, income levels and family situations, instead of assuming "an unlimited supply of extremely wealthy singles who would want to live in condos."

Most of the stations planned for the KRM line would be in urban settings that naturally lend themselves to this sort of development, said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors and the Southeastern Wisconsin Coalition for Transit Now.

Link: JS Online:.