City Stays Quiet on Rail Appeal

The St. Louis Park City Council hasn't announced whether it will challenge a recent state freight rail decision—yet.

Council members met for more than an hour-and-a-half behind closed doors Monday night to discuss a potential appeal to the Minnesota Department of Transportation's decision in late June to not order an environmental impact statement for the proposed freight rail reroute through St. Louis Park.

After the private meeting, council members said they were advised by the city's attorney to not discuss whether an appeal would be filed.

Last week, the local grassroots group Safety in the Park announced it would be . Thom Miller, who is the group's co-chair, said residents are worried that their concerns over the reroute won't be fully heard unless the comprehensive EIS process occurs.

“For them to not go to the next step, that’s our chief concern,” Miller said.

Frank Pafko, who is the director of the Office of Environmental Stewardship at MnDOT, said an EIS is only done if a project has the potential for significant environmental impact, and he didn’t see that in this case.

“What I saw was an existing freight rail line that’s not going out of historic norms,” Pafko said. “If they were building a whole new track, that might be a different story.”

Pafko said the only real impact of any appeals at this point would be the time it takes both sides to argue in court, as activities related to the reroute proposal can continue unless a judge orders them to stop.

A more significant delay could occur if a judge overturns MnDOT’s decision and orders an EIS. Pafko said he estimates an EIS for this project would take at least a year. Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman has said the reroute question needs to be answered this year to keep a regional light rail plan on schedule, but it’s not clear what impact an ongoing EIS would have on the decision.

That could be the hang-up among council members and the reason for Monday's long closed-door meeting. While they have made their clear, council members have also voiced support for light rail—meaning there might be some concern that an appeal now could jeopardize that project.