A steering committee of regional representatives approved streetcar as their preferred alternative for the Lake Oswego to Portland Transit Project on Monday. But the vote wasn't unanimous, signaling a potential hurdle for the project as it moves towards final environmental review.
Multnomah County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury cast the lone vote against the streetcar, saying the money wasn't there to build, much less operate, the transit project.
"I don't see a viable path toward capital construction," she said.
Some members of the steering committee, including Portland Mayor Sam Adams, pointed out that the vote was a formality to move the project along in the environmental review process.
"I want to get a discussion of total cost and total benefit," Adams said. "I'm not voting on whether or not to do this project."
But Kafoury said that projects can sometimes build momentum as they move through public processes and approvals.
"In good conscience, I can't vote to move this project forward," she said.
The steering committee, which consisted of representatives from neighborhoods, Portland, Lake Oswego, Multnomah and Clackamas counties and TriMet, is the latest group to recommend a streetcar for the Highway 43 corridor. Community and project advisory committees have already signed off on the streetcar proposal.
The Oregon Department of Transportation has said it's not financially viable to expand Highway 43. Adding enhanced bus service would cost $51 million, versus the estimated $379 to $458 million to build a streetcar.
But most of that money would come from the federal government. It's estimated that local taxpayers would pay $20 million for an enhanced bus service, compared to $57 to $83 million for a streetcar, which costs $1 million less per year to operate than express bus.
The committee voted 9-1 to recommend the streetcar as the locally preferred alternative. But two of the three public speakers at Monday's steering committee meeting said the region should be focusing on other transit priorities.
Proposed light rail on Highway 99W, and construction of the Columbia River Crossing, are more important than a streetcar to Lake Oswego, said Jim Bolland, an opponent of the streetcar proposal.
"One wonders how this could be a higher priority," he said. "It's classic groupthink. The CAC's are packed with streetcar proponents."
Lake Oswego City Councilor Jeff Gudman, speaking for himself and not the council, alleged the project could contest with the Columbia River Crossing for federal funding, a claim Adams challenged. But regardless of the funding source, Gudman said the project was unnecessary.
"The streetcar does not satisfy the minimum requirements for the project purpose and need," he said.
But Clackamas County Chair Lynn Peterson, a member of the steering committee, said the project is part of a broader commitment in the Portland region.
"It only makes sense, in the context of these first-ring cities," she said of transit project and the new development that planners expect it will bring. She commended Lake Oswego and other cities that "have all gone to the mat in order to make sure we save farm and forest land," by allowing for denser housing to accommodate population growth.