Merced approves matching funds for high speed rail grant

Merced City Council decided on Monday to put $200,000 in matching funds toward the 2013 High-Speed Rail Planning Grant, which will begin plans for the stop near downtown Merced.

The council approved the funds with a 6-1 vote during the Monday meeting. Councilman Mike Murphy cast the only no vote.

City staff asked the council to match a $600,000 grant to create studies and plans regarding transportation, financial and land-use issues that come with Merced’s proposed downtown station. Originally, the city’s matching funds were going to come from the Merced Redevelopment Agency, but the state disbanded redevelopment agencies in 2012.

The city’s $200,000 in matching funds will come instead from the Airport Industrial Park capital improvement fund. There is also an estimated $50,000 in staff time.

Staff said the money would eventually be replaced by redevelopment money expected to come back from the state, though there was no clear timeline on when that might happen.

A handful of people in the audience wore T-shirts marked with a Twitter-style hashtag that read, “#iwillride hsr.” Some of them spoke in favor of supporting the rail. “My hope is that we can use this grant money to create jobs here,” said Hannah Kim, a UC Merced student.

Councilmen Noah Lor and Tony Dossetti expressed their support for the same reasons. They also referenced a maintenance center for trains that could one day call Merced home. “This, if it comes, will bring jobs,” Dossetti said.

On the other side of the spectrum was Sam Palmer, president of the Merced-Atwater Tea Party. He said he didn’t believe the funding would come through for the project. “I think it’s an incredibly bad idea for the state.”

Murphy said he would not support putting general fund dollars toward the match, noting that the money could be used in other places, like public safety. “This is a time when we could use the money for anything,” he said.

The first part of the high-speed rail project would connect Merced to the San Fernando Valley. It would be about 300 miles long and operational by 2022, according to some estimates.

By 2029, the rail system is supposed to run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in less than three hours at speeds faster than 200 miles per hour. The system will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totaling 800 miles with up to 24 stations.

The statewide rail modernization plan could invest billions of dollars in local and regional rail lines to meet the state’s transportation plans. The potential to create jobs in the area has also interested past city leaders.

Other Valley towns are making moves to prepare for the rail system. The Fresno City Council last week voted to spend $1 million in grants for consultants who will dig into all sorts of planning details for the proposed station in that city’s downtown.

Mayor Stan Thurston said he planned to “hold my nose” and support the matching funds. He pointed to the rail’s plans to gentrify, or improve, the eastern end of downtown, where the station is proposed, which would relocate underprivileged residents.

“As a city, do we want to do this?” he asked.

This story was originally published October 6, 2014 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Merced approves matching funds for high speed rail grant."