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<br />~ Metropolitan Council <br />November 2,2009 <br /> <br />KUl1 Ulrich, City Administrator <br />City of Ramsey <br />7550 Sunwood Drive NW <br />Ramsey, MN 55303 <br /> <br />Re: Northstar Commuter Rail Station <br /> <br />Dear Mr. Ulrich: <br /> <br />Over the past scvcral months, the City of Ramsey has raised numerolls issues and concerns regarding a <br />proposed Not1:hstar Station, continuation of bus service, and CMAQ grants. To date, it doesn't appear <br />that the Council has been very helpful in explaining our position, so I'd like to take this opportunity to <br />attempt to provide some clarity. <br /> <br />First, there seems to be confusion over the ridership analysis used for YOllr CMAQ application versus that <br />used to justify a commuter rail station. Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) grants are intended, <br />as the name implies, to reduce congestion and air emissions. As you know the City was awarded a <br />CMAQ grant in 2005 for bus service and a parking facility stalting in 2009. However, the City of <br />Ramsey advanced the bus service portion of project, which has been successfully operated since 2007. <br />Currently, the City is seeking a CMAQ grant for a Northstar rail station, To receive a new CMAQ grant, <br />the City needs to demonstrate new ridership. In calculating rail ridership for the grant, the City cannot <br />count the existing bus ridership - because the congestion mitigation and air quality impacts attributable to <br />those riders were already counted and paid for through the previous CMAQ grant. <br /> <br />While bus ridership cannot be used fot' purposes of your CMAQ rail station application, it can <br />nevertheless be used to justify a rail station. As you know, a commuter rail station at Ramsey has been <br />considered since 1999 when a ridership analysis was conducted as part of the Northstar Commuter Rail <br />DEIS. The ridership estimates using the regional model at that time indicated that overall ridership on <br />Northstar Commuter Rail does not increase enough to justify the capital and operating cost for the <br />Ramsey station. In 2004 a Rail Station Feasibility Study was conducted for a potential Ramsey Station, <br />and most recently the 2009 Ramsey Station Preliminary Engineering Study was prepared for Anoka <br />County Regional Rail Authority. Both studies considered scenarios including express bus service from <br />Ramsey as compared to commuter rail. Neither significantly changed ridership on the overall Northstar <br />Line. <br /> <br />While the ridership modeling to date does not support a Ramsey rail station, a couple of factors could <br />have a positive impact ovet' the course of the next year or two. First, the regional model estimates all <br />rides at all stations served by Northstai' Line. A key data input to the regional model Is residential and <br />employment estimates. These depend on input from each City's Comprehensive Plan ,to accurately <br />forecast ridership. We would expect that the City's updated compt'ehensive plan will show additional <br />development and will boost !'idel'ship projections. The City's comprehensive plan update is 10 months <br />delinquent, and we would encourage you to submit a complete update at your earliest convenience. <br /> <br />www.metrocouncil.org <br /> <br />390 Robert Street North. St. Paul. MN 55101-1805 . (651) 602-1000 . Fax (651) 602-1550 · TTY (651) 291-09041 <br /> <br />An EquaL Opportunity Emplol/sr <br />