Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

 

TO:

David L. Corliss, City Manager

 

FROM:

Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

 

CC:

Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager

 

Date:

 

February 9, 2010

RE:

Direction regarding acquisition of the Santa Fe Station (BNSF Depot)

 

Please place the following item on the City Commission agenda for the February 16, 2010 meeting:

 

Provide direction to staff regarding the acquisition of the Santa Fe Station (BNSF Depot), if appropriate.

 

 

Background:

In the summer of 2008, City staff received direction from the City Commission to commence discussions with the BNSF Railway regarding the acquisition of the Santa Fe Station, the depot owned by the BNSF on E. 7th Street.  Since that date, a number of discussions have taken place with BNSF and Amtrak officials regarding this acquisition.  Additionally, the City Commission provided direction in March 2009 to send a letter to BNSF requesting expeditious transfer of the depot to the City (see attached agenda materials). 

 

In April 2009, the City received a response to the letter from BNSF outlining certain steps that needed to be undertaken regarding the depot acquisition (see attached agenda materials). 

 

In the fall of 2009, the City Commission authorized a contract with Hernly Associates to provide a historic structures report and recommended improvements to the Santa Fe Station.  The information from this report was used in a grant submission to the Kansas Department of Transportation for Transportation Enhancement grant funds for the first phase of upgrades to the station.  A good portion of the first phase upgrades included in the grant application was for the purpose of meeting the Americans’ with Disabilities Act requirements. Approximately $160,000 of the first phase improvements identified would go to fund accessibility improvements such as providing a sloped sidewalk to door at south side east end, reversing door swing at door at south side east end, installing additional interior doors, installing new entrance doors, reconfiguring bathrooms for ADA accessibility and installing high-low accessible drinking fountains. 

 

Additionally, Amtrak has recently provided clarification that the ADA improvements that will be funded by its ARRA funds will only address platform ADA compliance and will not address station compliance or much of the sidewalk issues around the station. 

 

ADA improvement responsibility issue:

During discussion regarding the City’s submission of the TE Grant in December, several City Commissioners indicated possible concern about the responsibility for ADA improvements if the station were acquired and the grant was not received.  Based on the comments, City staff believes it is important to get clarification from the City Commission regarding any necessary contingencies in acquisition of the facility with BNSF.  To date, there have been no contingencies formally discussed with BNSF on this ownership transfer. 

 

In early 2009, Amtrak completed a comprehensive report to Congress on ADA compliance entitled “A Report on Accessibility and Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990”.  This report provides some good background on the ADA compliance issue with stations and some of the gray areas surrounding what entity is responsible for such improvements and indicates that Amtrak stations must be accessible by July 26, 2010.  Additionally, there are some interesting comments in the report that may be applicable for the City Commission’s consideration. 

 

The report references the designation of a “responsible person” (an entity responsible for ADA improvements) under Department of Transportation regulations and indicates that if a station is owned more than 50% by a public entity, that public entity would be responsible for 100% of the ADA improvement costs (see Exhibit 15, page 23).  The report discusses Amtrak’s philosophy about responsibility for ADA costs and indicates that Amtrak looks at ownership and responsibility in three major areas:  station structures, platforms, and parking facilities.  The report shows that with regard to the Lawrence station, the station structure, platform and parking facilities are currently all owned by the BNSF and the report indicates that ADA responsibility for all three areas falls to Amtrak. (see page 7 of Appendix 8: Station Characteristics-Ownership and ADA Responsibilities).  Based upon the information in the report and barring any agreement with Amtrak to the contrary, City staff suggests that the City would be responsible for ADA improvements if the ownership of the station transfers to the City from BNSF.

 

As the City Commission is aware, the TE Grant will require that the depot be owned by the City at the time of the grant award.  In order to retain the opportunity for the grant to be received, yet enable the City to not complete the station acquisition if the grant is not received, thus avoiding ADA improvement cost responsibility, a possible mechanism would be a contingency in the transfer agreements with BNSF to enable a transfer contingent upon the grant being awarded. If the issue of ADA improvement responsibility is a concern to the City Commission, staff would suggest that this would be the appropriate mechanism to pursue.  Direction regarding this issue will be helpful to relay to BNSF Railway as soon as possible.

 

Staff has scheduled a conversation with Amtrak officials on Friday, February 12 to seek some additional clarifications regarding the ADA responsibility issue.  So, additional clarification may come forward as a result of that conversation. 

 

Action Requested:

Provide direction to City staff regarding acquisition of the Santa Fe Station from the BNSF Railway, if appropriate.