Lakeville joins metro area transit system

Federal grant provides incentive, benefits

The story of transit service and the City of Lakeville begins with a question. A question that dates back to ancient philosophers about which came first, the chicken or the egg?

For years, Lakeville city officials have been reluctant to join the so-called “Transit Taxing District” (TTD) in the metro area. The taxing district is composed of communities in which the Metropolitan Council levies a tax for investment in regional transit capital projects, including park-and-rides and buses.

Lakeville in relation to metro area; link to larger map

Lakeville has joined the region’s Transit Taxing District. A property tax levy is spread to all taxable property in the district; the owner of a $300,000 home will pay about $37.50 annually. The Metropolitan Council and its regional transportation partners use the revenue to make capital investments in the transit system, such as bus purchases and construction of park-and-ride lots. See a map of the entire Transit Taxing District..

From Lakeville’s perspective, participation in the TTD didn’t seem like such a good investment. Not when the city wasn’t on the receiving end of regional transit service or facilities.

From the region’s perspective, it wasn’t a funding priority to direct limited resources to a community that wasn’t helping to pay the costs of transit capital projects.

“Show me the money”

“The city wanted the guarantee of transit service and facilities before they delivered the resources, while the Council needed the resources to deliver the services,” said Arlene McCarthy, director of Metropolitan Transportation Services for the Metropolitan Council.

“For us, we couldn’t justify raising property taxes without receiving transit-related services or facilities,” said Lakeville City Administrator Steven Mielke. “It was a conversation that went around and around in a circle, just like the discussion about the chicken or the egg.”

“We had the Council saying, ‘Show me the money,’ and the city saying, ‘Show us what we get for it,” said Council Chair Peter Bell. “And so it went.”

Meanwhile, license plate surveys revealed many Lakeville-area residents were using park-and-ride facilities in nearby Apple Valley to hop the bus downtown. That didn’t sit well with some Apple Valley officials, who looked for ways to restrict the parking facilities to residents within the TTD. But most importantly, it demonstrated the growing demand for transit facilities.

Just about that time, along came the UPA and suddenly, there was the prospect of resources.

Federal grant helps break the deadlock

UPA stands for Urban Partnership Agreement. It’s a program administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation that provides grant dollars for reducing traffic congestion.

The state and region applied for, and was one of five applicants awarded, federal funds to the tune of $133 million to address congestion along I-35W and the Cedar Avenue Corridor. Lakeville could benefit from proposed investments, but to do so, meant joining the Transit Taxing District.

To sweeten the offer, the Metro Council, partnering with Mn/DOT, proposed a service agreement, using UPA dollars and recently authorized trunk highway bonds for transit improvements. County sales tax revenues allocated by a critical new partner, the County Transit Improvement Board (CTIB), are also anticipated to help make the new service successful. The service enhancements proposed include:

A northbound High-Occupancy Toll Lane (HOT lane) from the I-35 split to the HOT lane beginning at Burnsville Parkway through Minneapolis
A new 500 space park-and-ride facility on I-35 with bus-only service ramps

A new park-and-ride facility on Cedar Avenue
New express service from both new park-and-rides

“A one-time opportunity”

“It was a one-time opportunity with a price tag upwards of $25 million,” said Bell. “We really wanted the city to come into the district voluntarily and the UPA dollars afforded us the ability to accomplish that.”

“For our part, it was a way to obtain a significant transportation benefit for Lakeville residents, which justified the property tax increase,” said Mielke.

On May 5, the Lakeville City Council took a big step in the long journey, opting to enter into a transit service plan and join the TTD.

The state legislature and governor approved the enabling language needed to secure the federal UPA funds about a week later.

On May 28, the Metro Council approved the service agreement offered to the city.

“It came right down to the wire, given the deadlines we needed to meet,” said the Council’s Government Affairs Director Judd Schetnan. “The stars must have been aligned, because in the end, the pieces fell right into place.”

And so ends this chapter of the story of transit and the City of Lakeville and the TDD and the UPA; a story that for both parties and the region concludes with a WIN-WIN.

The UPA, of course, provides additional resources that benefit communities along the I-35W and Cedar Avenue corridors. More about local projects supported by UPA funding.