School board opposes train station expansion
Downtown project too near the site of planned Eastside campus, members say
School board members are demanding regional transportation officials change plans for expanding a Riverside train station because it’s near the site of a planned school to serve the city’s Eastside community.
“This is about the safety of children,” said Tom Hunt, in urging colleagues on the Riverside Unified School District’s board of education recently to take a stand against the project.
The board voted 5-0 July14 to oppose the expansion, as proposed, and to urge the agency overseeing the venture — the Riverside County Transportation Commission — to pursue other options for increasing the Riverside-Downtown Station’s ability to handle passenger rail traffic.
The vote comes as the commission is studying environmental impacts and setting the stage for possibly approving the project in the fall. The station serves Metrolink and Amtrak passenger trains.
“We are disappointed that we were not given the opportunity to address the school district’s concerns raised in the public review process conducted earlier this year,” commission spokesperson Cheryl Donahue wrote in an email Tuesday.
The agency released a draft environment analysis Dec. 3 and accepted comments through Feb. 18.
“RCTC is currently reviewing all public comments received and evaluating options to address concerns,” Donahue wrote.
Donahue said the agency’s staff may ask commissioners in November to certify the final version of the study and approve the project. A public hearing would be held in conjunction with that meeting.
She said the final study is expected to be released for public review in October.
The school board’s resolution mentions the district intends to build an Eastside Elementary School between 13th and 14th streets, and Howard and Park avenues in Riverside, while potentially negotiating a deal with the city to use Lincoln Park for school recreation. The school site
is 450feet from the area where the train station would expand, the resolution states, and the park is 100 feet away.
The proximity is concerning, said board member Dale Kinnear, in voicing support for the resolution. Kinnear, according to the board meeting videotape, called on commissioners to weigh “the obvious impact on our new elementary school.”
“There’s only one question that has to be asked of the RCTC board members, whether they live in our area or whether they live in Coachella or Eastvale, and that is, ‘Would they want
their child to go to a school next to a transportation hub? Would they want it to be 100 feet away from their elementary school?’ And I can’t imagine that anyone would say, ‘yes,’ that that’s what they want for their child,” he said.
The resolution alleged that the transportation agency so far has not adequately considered the potential air quality, noise and traffic impacts on existing Lincoln High School and the proposed Eastside school.
The board suggested expanding the station toward the 91 Freeway and University Avenue, instead of to the east, and building a multistory parking structure. Donahue said the commission did not have an immediate response and would address that later.
Meanwhile, immediately west of the station, along Vine Street, Riverside Transit Agency is building a 5-acre transit hub with spaces for 16 buses. RTA spokesperson Bradley Weaver said the hub is scheduled to open in spring 2023. RTA operates public buses in western Riverside County.
The train-station expansion is part of a regional multibillion-dollar campaign to upgrade Metrolink’s commuter train system in advance of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The project involves adding two sets of tracks and a passenger platform, while extending the existing pedestrian bridge and constructing up to 500 parking spaces on the east side of the station.
Earlier, several community groups, including the Old Riverside Foundation, raised concerns about the expansion plan, which would involve dismantling a historic structure, the FMC Building. Packing and canning equipment was manufactured there during the city’s citrus heyday.
Members of the city’s Cultural Heritage Board raised similar concerns in January.
And now the school board has taken a stance.
Riverside City Council Member Clarissa Cervantes, who represents the Eastside, said she was “pleasantly surprised” to see the school board take a stand against the project. “I think that’s very significant. And we need to listen to what the residents are saying.”