OFFICIAL RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF EDEN PRAIRIE

October 15, 2002

The following resolution was jointly authored by members of Trails Without Rails and the management staff of the City of Eden Prairie.  The Eden Prairie City Council formally approved the resolution on October 15, 2002 as the City’s position on light rail transit and use of the SW Regional Corridor.  The City of Eden Prairie has sent the resolution to the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority for inclusion in their light rail transit study project. 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

1.      The City Council prefers an alignment, such as the alignment known as option W8, that best serves the employee transportation needs of the Eden Prairie business community, with an emphasis on the employee transportation needs of those employers in the Golden Triangle area.

2.      The City Council prefers an alignment that strengthens the mission of the community’s current transit provider of choice, South West Metro Transit, by terminating the alignment into a multi-modal transit node at the South West Metro Station.

3.      The financial feasibility analysis of the proposed alignments included in the South West Rail Transit Study should include estimates of the expenditure of funds by all city, county, state, and federal levels of government, and by regulated public utilities, that will be required to complete road and utility improvement and relocation projects which are required for the construction of the project.

4.      The financial feasibility analysis of the proposed alignments should include an analysis of the automobile traffic displaced from the regional transportation system within the SW LRT Corridor area that is directly attributable to that proposed alignment.  The South West Rail Transit study should clearly articulate its basic assumptions and methodologies for its ridership projections for each alignment. 

5.      The study should clearly articulate the projected construction costs, annual operating costs, and annual capital costs for the project.  The study should clearly identify the assumptions and methodologies employed to create the construction cost estimates of the alignment and its future operating and capital replacement cost projections.

6.      The City Council prefers an alignment option that complements and coordinates with the transit services offered by South West Metro Transit.  The City Council will be reluctant to support alignments that may undermine the current or future operations of South West Metro Transit.

7.      The City Council prefers the preservation of the existing recreational use of the SW LRT Trail.  Should the final alignment of the South West Rail Transit Study result in an alignment other than the SW LRT Corridor, City of Eden Prairie will agree to accept the ownership and maintenance responsibilities of the SW LRT Corridor through our community and to preserve its current recreational use.