Counting on Gold
MONROVIA - The Gold Line extension to Montclair from Pasadena is a long way from reality, but cities and developers have already spent billions of dollars on projects along the proposed 24-mile light-rail line.
When it was first proposed, the extension through the San Gabriel Valley on the old Santa Fe right-of-way was going to end in Claremont.
But officials in San Bernardino County lured planners to end the line in Montclair.
The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority is now shopping proposals to extend the line to L.A./Ontario International Airport.
The state budget last week transferred more than $1 billion away from transportation agencies, but Gold Line officials say they were not counting on state money for the project. They plan to obtain federal funds from the Federal Transportation Agency next year.
"(State funds) were never part of the project plan," said Habib Balian, CEO of the authority. "If we relied on the state or the MTA for our funds, it would never get built."
The precarious nature of the project's funding has not affected planning for transit-oriented developments around yet-to-be-built stations along the extension's route, according to a study commissioned by the authority.
The study, led by the Irvine-based IBI Group, determined that about $2.1 billion in public and private investment has already gone into developing projects within a half mile of proposed stations in the 11 cities traversed by the future Gold Line extension. That includes funds for projects already being built, like the massive Rosedale development in Azusa, as well as those in the planning stages like Monrovia's Station Square.
Claremont is working on transit-orientated development surrounding its proposed Gold Line station.
The figure also includes funds used by cities to update their land-use plans to accommodate the future train stops, as well as construction of public parking facilities near the stations.
The study also estimated that the Gold Line extension would spur more than $36 billion in new private development, generate up to $6.2 billion in new household spending through 2030 and add nearly $1.5 billion in property and sales tax revenue for local cities over the next 30 years.
The Foothill extension provides the opportunity to absorb the tremendous growth projected for the San Gabriel Valley, which is expected to add more than a half million residents by 2035, said Patricia Flynn of The Maxima Group, who was involved in preparing the study.
About 160,000 new housing units will be needed to accommodate that population growth, she said.
"You have the capacity to build 23,000 new housing units within station areas, as well as enough capacity to absorb 28,000 new jobs," said Flynn. "That is a significant part of the growth coming to the valley."
The amount of money being spent on developments around the future stations show that cities are counting on the proposed extension in their plans to accommodate that future growth, Flynn said.
"(The Gold Line) is the organizing principle for how these cities are thinking about growth," she said. "Without the train, you don't have that focal point."
In Glendora, that centers on two developments surrounding that city's proposed Gold Line station, located near Glendora and Ada avenues just south of downtown.
The Morgan Group has already secured approval from the city for a 161-unit, residential development with 11,900 square feet of office space just south of the future station, near Route 66 and Glendora, said Glendora Redevelopment Manager Al Lavine.
"They are getting ready for construction," he said of the two-story, $45 million project.
The other development, by the Neiman Group, is in its preliminary stages, with 87 condominium units planned across the street from the station.
"We expect approval by the end of the year," said Lavine, adding that the Gold Line is the centerpiece of the future development scheme in the city's center.
Duarte has come up with a preliminary design concept for a new downtown district around the planned Gold Line station across from the City of Hope on Duarte Road. The plan includes a major hotel, commercial and office buildings, restaurants and retail, as well as parks, residential units and a connection to the Duarte Civic Center under the 210 Freeway.
"We have an enormous opportunity to create jobs, housing and develop that area to be compatible with the extension of the Gold Line," said Duarte Councilman John Fasana, who is also a member of the Metropolitan Transit Authority board. "If we were to develop that area without a corresponding (mass transit route), then you are just going to have overdevelopment with added vehicle congestion."
Richard Thompson, vice president of facilities for the City of Hope, said his world-renowned hospital and cancer research facility is counting on the Gold Line to accommodate the more than 3,400 staffers, patients and visitors who commute to the campus every day.
"On any given day our parking lots are filled up by 10 a.m. each morning," said Thompson. "If we had a reliable, efficient mass transit alternative, we know a significant number of these people would use it."
He added that development around the station would also benefit the hospital.
"A hotel near the station would have appeal, not only as a place for our visiting scientists to stay but also to use the convention facilities to augment our educational programs," Thompson said. "We also have a large number of nurses who would be very interested in new housing developments near the station."
All of these investments and planning efforts, however, depend on the Gold Line becoming a reality.
The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority has already completed an environmental study of the project, settled on station locations with all but one of the corridor cities, and owns the railroad right-of-way, Balian said.
In addition, local House members including Reps. David Dreier, R-Glendora, Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena and Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, have inserted language in a federal bill that would allow the authority to leverage the almost $1 billion spent on the first leg of the Gold Line from downtown L.A. to Pasadena to secure matching funds from the government. The bill has yet to pass the Senate.
That coupled with a ridership projection of 9,500 passenger trips on the extension by 2030 would allow the authority to apply for the federal funds next year, Balian said. But it must get a commitment from the MTA for the $8 million per year that will be needed to operate the line, Balian said.
"We are going through this huge effort to get the MTA to commit this money, to beg for scraps for the San Gabriel Valley, when it is really a freebie for the MTA," said Balian. "They don't have to spend anything to build it. They just have to drive the choo-choo train in 2011."
Fred Ortega, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily August 29, 2007