CHESAPEAKE -- Any study of the feasibility of bringing light rail to Chesapeake will be delayed by at least a year. City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to delay discussion of the study for that time period. In November, a unanimous vote put Chesapeake on the road to okaying the study.
"When we first introduced the idea," explains Council Member Rick West, "it was not local matching funds, and, you know, once you throw that into the formula, we have to find another way to do it. We just can't expect our local taxpayers when we're tightening the belt to spend money on a study."
West and Council Member Cliff Hayes, Jr., serve as liaisons between the council and Hampton Roads Transit.
"It's a good opportunity for us to just kind of step back from this process, take a really good look at it, while HRT's staff works with our staff here to strategically talk about financing alternatives to the local match," Hayes says.
That local match became an issue in Virginia Beach recently after council members there said they signed on for their study with the understanding that no money would have to come from the city. The new head of HRT, Phil Shucet, reviewed a transcript from a council meeting on May 19, 2009 and concluded "...HRT committed with certainty that no local City funds would be used to fund the Alternatives Analysis and Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement." As a result, HRT withdrew its request that Virginia Beach supply the local match. In part, Shucet said, "It's the right thing to do..."
Something else to take into account is the fact that Norfolk's light rail system, The Tide, is running more than $100,000,000 more than its original budget estimate.
"We've got time on this thing," West said during the council meeting. "We've got the luxury of not having to rush to judgment, and to look at this issue and get all the facts and not spend a lot of money. We're fortunate. We're in a good position to do that."
West tells 13News with Chesapeake set to have a greater population than Norfolk in 10 years, it makes sense to consider light rail service, particularly to the Greenbrier area which he says is one of the big economic and activity centers in Hampton Roads.
"We're all connected: Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth," West says. "What's good for one economy is good for the other economy." Taking that into account when considering light rail, he concludes, "If it makes sense for Chesapeake, it will happen. If it doesn't, then it won't."
