By Shannon Fiecke

It almost seemed too good to be true when a provision allowing consideration of commuter rail on the Dan Patch Line sailed through the state Legislature this session.

Given the substantial support for the provision, neighboring state senators Kevin Dahle and Claire Robling were not happy when the proposal was pulled from a transportation policy bill this week.

"Where we surprised!" said Dahle, a freshman DFL legislator from Northfield who represents part of southern Scott County. "She’s equally upset."

Robling, a Republican from Jordan, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The proposal would have lifted the "gag order" on the Metropolitan Council and others from talking about or considering the Dan Patch commuter rail line from Northfield to Minneapolis, Dahle explained in his on-line blog.

Due to pressure from certain Republican legislators, the provision was stricken from a compromise transportation policy bill during a conference committee meeting on Tuesday (May 6). The bill’s notable provisions allow police to pull over drivers for not wearing seatbelts and adds restrictions for teen drivers.

To try to get the bill to pass and be approved by the governor, the conference committee took out some provisions.

The Metropolitan Council originally asked legislators for the ability to study the corridor along with other possible routes for commuter rail.

"I have since heard from the administration that this is a problem," Metropolitan Council Government Affairs Director Judd Schetnan told legislators. "So I am back here before you today to ask you to please have that removed. I don’t enjoy saying that."

He further explained his reason in an e-mail: "After hearing from minority members concerns, and in the governor's expressed effort to achieve bipartisan support for this bill, I conveyed that message to the committee."   

Rep. Ron Erhardt of Edina was the only committee member to speak in favor of pulling the proposal, but it still passed begrudgingly.

Erhardt said legislators originally took the Dan Patch project off the table following a $472,000 study that determined the corridor wasn’t suitable for commuter rail at the time.

"Somehow the Met Council forgot they had done the study and I had to remind them at the hearing," Erhardt said, adding that he asked the Council to go back and read the study.

"That’s the reason that somebody finally came to their senses and put the prohibition back to the way it was," he said of the Council’s reverse course.

Other legislators characterized the situation as mere politics and said it was not appropriate to tell transportation planners how to do their jobs.

"We’re asking professional respected staff to do these political errands in front of this committee," said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, who planned to vote against the motion.

One legislator said the prohibition was approved in the first place out of "parochial interests," in spite of "the benefit to the region."

Given the only reason for taking out the proposal was for the "big picture," one conference committee member said it’ll probably return.

Dahle said he’s looking forward to the discussion next year because he can’t imagine how any legislator will be able to defend a gag order.

But support or opposition to further study of the Dan Patch Line hasn’t been along party lines.

There was bi-partisan authorship in the House, including Republican Michael Beard of Shakopee and DFLer Will Morgan of Burnsville.

Beard, who hasn’t generally been a strong proponent of rail projects, still supported repealing the prohibition, noting there was even private interest in developing the line.

The line, which starts in Northfield and runs through Lakeville, Savage, Bloomington, Edina, St. Louis Park and ends in Minneapolis, and was one of three routes chosen by the state in 1998 for possible commuter rail usage.

But residents whose homes backed up to the little-used freight line had concerns. Some 1,600 properties (mainly in Bloomington and Edina) are within 100 feet of the track's right of way.

In 2001, the Minnesota Legislature adopted specific legislation that put hefty restrictions on the Dan Patch Line. Specifically, the bill said capital improvements couldn’t be considered by the state commissioner of transportation or the Metropolitan Council unless land was first acquired. There also could not be any further studies of the line.

The prohibition came at a time when light rail and commuter rail were just ideas.

Fast forward to present day, when the Hiawatha light rail line is operating and the Northstar commuter rail line is moving forward.

The proposal to lift the ban would only have stricken part of the prohibition. Legislative approval would still be needed for any funds to be spent on design.

There are eight commuter rail lines being considered by the Metropolitan Council as part of its 2030 transit master study. The map was shown earlier this year to the Scott County Board, with specific notice made of a gap on the map, where the "unmentionable" line lies.

Rep. Mary Liz Holberg, R-Lakeville, a member of the transportation and transit policy subcommittee, opposes commuter rail along the Dan Patch Line.

She said a lot of people thought re-opening the issue would be a big waste of time and more money, given that a half-million dollars was already spent on studying the line in 2000. "For those of us who went through the war, we don’t want to line up the troops again," she said.

Besides considering the cost of rail projects too high for the benefit, Holberg said the Dan Patch Line would be even less effective because it would largely shadow a bus corridor being developed along I-35W.

In an interview, Erhardt said there isn’t even funding available yet for rail lines ranked in higher priority than Dan Patch, which requires a major upgrade for commuter rail.

He is not opposed to re-looking at the line someday, but believes there should be no more money spent on studying the corridor until money is available for the upgrade or it becomes a priority item.

Shannon Fiecke can be reached at sfiecke@swpub.com.

Dan Patch Line

A 40-mile corridor from downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County, through the west and south suburbs of Hennepin, Scott and Dakota Counties, to the city of Northfield in northern Rice County. The proposed Dan Patch Corridor Commuter Rail line could use existing tracks owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway from Minneapolis to Lakeville.