Municipal Consent Votes Loom on Blue Line Light Rail Project
One of the metro’s light rail projects, the Blue Line Extension, will face scrutiny from local governments as it heads toward an approval process called municipal consent.
The Metropolitan Council, one of the agencies that oversees the project, is hosting open houses and public hearings through early September in the light rail corridor.
The line is planned to run from downtown Minneapolis to Brooklyn Park, with stops in Crystal and Robbinsdale.
The first of these open houses was Aug. 20 in Crystal. It gave residents a chance to weigh in on the project’s design elements ahead of municipal consent votes.
What is municipal consent?
Municipal consent is a key step in moving ahead with light rail design and is a process required in state law. Despite its name, it doesn’t give cities the authority to stop a light rail project from moving forward.
Rather, local elected bodies will have the chance to comment on specific design elements.
“They get to weigh in on the physical design elements,” said Shahin Khazrajafari, deputy project director with Hennepin County. “That is, where the tracks are located — the alignment, generally speaking. The station locations … the decision that they can make is to either approve the plans as they are, and that’s considered an approval — they can vote ‘yes’ to approve. They can vote ‘no’ and offer amendments that would allow them to get to a ‘yes.'”
Khazrajafari continued, “In essence, they can let us know what it is they want to see with the design elements that would get them to be able to approve. Or they can not vote at all, which in this case would also be considered an approval per the state legislation.”
Project officials with the Blue Line Extension project office discuss the project’s design elements at an Aug. 20 open house in Crystal.
Public Hearings in September
The next public hearing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at Robbinsdale City Hall.
Brooklyn Park will have an open house starting at 4 p.m. and a public hearing starting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 9 at Brooklyn Park City Hall.
A Minneapolis public hearing is at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 12 at the Public Service Center at 250 S. 4th Ave.
More information on the public hearings is available here.
