by Derrick Williams
Thisweek Newspapers

Tires on the bus that is Lakeville's transit debate seem to be gaining traction on the topic's slippery slope.

Lakeville City Administrator Steve Mielke has acknowledged that it is no longer a matter of if Lakeville will someday have public transit options but rather when.

With that in mind, city staff has begun reviewing the city's transit plan. The review was already on the docket as part of the city's Met Council mandated update to its Comprehensive Plan.

The study outlines the vast array of transit options to the city and their costs, including bus rapid transit, dial-a-ride services, commuter rail and other options.

"Clearly, I can't predict when (transit) will come, but as we grow, there will be a calling for us to have some sort of service," Mielke told Thisweek Newspapers last month.

To some extent, that call has already been made.

Burnsville and Apple Valley have repeatedly called on Lakeville to join the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority taxing district.

Those cities believe Lakeville should join other south-metro cities in the transit taxing district.

Last year, Lakeville and Apple Valley argued over the park-and-ride facility along Cedar Avenue near 155th Street, when Apple Valley began the steps needed to require parking permits for the park-and-ride lot. Apple Valley officials said that results of a license-plate survey showed that about 240 Lakeville residents use the station and help to cram the parking lot despite not paying the transit taxes that residents in Apple Valley do.

Mielke said Lakeville's City Council is hesitant to join the MVTA taxing district because it's a sizable tax increase – $40 to most homeowners – that wouldn't result in much bus service for Lakeville itself.

"They can't really pay for the services they're running now," Mielke said. "How are they going to be able to provide services to Lakeville? We haven't been given any indication that they're capable of bringing meaningful service down here."

The answer to that concern may just come from the Capitol.

In the next session, the Legislature could approve $55 million in matching funds on top of a $133 million federal grant for transit around the metro area.

With those funds secured, bus rapid transit along the Cedar Avenue corridor and the Interstate 35 corridor would jump to the fast track, along with two bus stations in Lakeville.

The kicker is that the federal grant requires most of the transit improvements to be ready to go by the fall of 2009.

"It's a tough issue," Mielke said. "It's likely that policy makers will be right and wrong no matter which way they go."

Included in Lakeville's transit plan are sample schedules that include 15 express trips between Lakeville and downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul during peak commuting hours.

Four local buses could run between 5 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. weekdays, going to St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The transit plan should be completed this spring, Mielke said.

E-mail Derrick Williams at lakeville.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

NOTE: Check out Thisweek Newspapers' General Manager Larry Werner column on Lakeville's transit problem here.