Miffed land owner may seek RTD post

By Kevin Flynn, Friday, March 7, 2008

One aggrieved property owner facing condemnation for FasTracks is adopting “If you can’t beat them, join them” as a political slogan.

Steve Fesch, who owns land near Invesco Field that RTD says it needs for the West Corridor light-rail project, told a FasTracks public meeting Thursday night that he’s running for the RTD board of directors in November.

He had been considering it for some time, but made it public while addressing 60 people attending a meeting on the Gold Line FasTracks corridor to Arvada-Wheat Ridge, where RTD is considering some changes to track alignment that would result in more private property being needed for that project.

Using his three minutes to address the people instead of RTD’s staff, Fesch said he believes his land is being taken to assemble a large parcel for future development. His is the only private parcel within a large swath of government-owned land.

While his land isn’t in the path of the light-rail tracks, RTD says it is needed for drainage work and street relocation. It says it is not acquiring any more land than it needs for the transit project. But it also says it intends to seek private developers to build FasTracks parking while taking advantage of unused zoning rights on the land to build commercial projects.

“If you own a piece of property, I urge you to stay in touch with us,” Fesch said on behalf of the Colorado Property Rights Coalition. “Are we going to allow the government to take private land for redevelopment because they messed up their budget?”

Fesch, an Aurora resident, would be running against one of only two board members who recently voted in favor of his position.

Barbara Yamrick, finishing her first term, voted last month to deny RTD staff the authority to proceed with condemnations on the West Corridor, including Fesch’s land. The motion won nevertheless.

Yamrick said she is running for re-election.

“The most qualified woman at this time has a very formidable male opponent as well,” she said after being told Fesch planned to oppose her. “Democracy can get messy at times.”

The Gold Line is a commuter rail project stretching more than 11 miles from Union Station to Ward Road near Interstate 70. The segment from Union Station to Pecos Street had long been planned to use Union Pacific property, but recently talks broke down when RTD couldn’t afford the price UP wanted for all of its properties around the metro area.

RTD is still talking with UP about the Gold Line property, but it is examining other routes out of downtown.

It narrowed the alternative to one, about 300 feet east of the UP tracks. It is nearly two-tenths of a mile longer and at $145 million would cost about $10 million more to build than the original pathway. Most of that is tied up in constructing 700 feet more in bridges than the original alignment.

The new alignment would involve buyout of 13 businesses and partial taking of 11 others, while the original alignment affected six businesses.

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247

© Rocky Mountain News

Original link