Careful what we wished for.
Just several months ago, pretty much everyone in the city was hammering RTD to make good on promised light rail lines in Aurora that most of us believe we paid for during a 2004 FasTracks election.
After years of complaining when the Regional Transportation District said it couldn’t make good on all the light rail lines that were outlined during the FasTracks campaign, Aurora got it’s way. Light rail officials were able to find the money to complete the I-225 line from Parker Road to join with the East Line, which will have a station at Peoria near Interstate 70.
Now, reality is sinking in that with light rail comes heavy responsibility. Fine tuning a projected alignment, which always, always happens, has got some business owners and residents angry as the possibility of rail becomes reality. Near City Center, which is close to the Town Center of Aurora Mall, at-grade street crossings and other alignment issues have made it clear that trains running through the area will be inconvenient for some people. And in the Morris Heights neighborhood, north of the Anschutz and Fitzsimons campuses, the need to push a train station a half-mile north has infuriated people there about possible changes to open space.
Take a breath, Aurora. Although this is definitely new and different, growth and redevelopment is hardly novel to this city, and with planning, compromise and money, we’re convinced that the A-Town line will be something everyone likes in the end. The key here is listening, planning and money. Morris Heights residents have legitimate concerns about the effect of a light rail station on wildlife and other aspects of open space in the area. It’s open space parks like these and the trails that connect them that make the metro-Aurora region unique among urban developments in the country. Here in Colorado, the value of open space and recreational trails is clear and worthy of protection. It doesn’t mean that a light rail station can’t live in harmony with nearby open space, but it’s going to take money and planning to create parking, ways in and out of the station, and opportunities for development that don’t turn the park-like jewel in the area into dismal vacant lot.
And while Morris Heights neighbors are right on with their concerns about a harmonious development, they’re dead wrong about this station being a detriment to property values. On the contrary, proximity to light rail stations are a game changer for neighborhoods like this one. Property values will go up, substantially, not down as the station begins to serve riders.
But Morris Heights only shines a light on the real problem here: a lack of parking and planning around Aurora’s light rail stations. At the best, Aurora is squandering one-time opportunities for lucrative, amazing developments surrounding these stations, handing over control to developers who will pick only low-hanging fruit the city will have to live with for a long time. At worst, the city will end up with a handful of light rail stations that are so choked by the lack of parking and sensible development, that they become a nightmare for everyone. It means that Aurora will have to be adult about the fact that it will probably need some kind of a tax increase to pay for ensuring these light rail stations pay everyone back in the future.
Aurora must work together and make unpopular choices to ensure light rail is all we hoped for instead of wishing it had become someone else’s problem.