Va. Beach, state compromise on light rail terms
By Kathy Adams
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 24, 2014
VIRGINIA BEACH
After about a day of he-said she-said, the mayor and state Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne have informally agreed to the terms under which the state will provide funding for extending light rail into Virginia Beach, both officials said today.
Confusion emerged Wednesday when Layne told local business leaders the city had agreed to a set of terms offered by the state last week. Beach officials responded that wasn’t the case and that they planned to negotiate.
They found common ground this morning, with the mayor and Layne agreeing on the phone to a set of compromise terms offered by the city, Sessoms said. Layne confirmed the accord.
“I think both sides understand in principle where the state has to be in order to participate,” he said.
The conditions are a compromise from those initially offered by the state. They agree to split the cost of a $290 million light rail extension from Newtown Road in Norfolk to Town Center in Virginia Beach, with the city covering any cost overruns.
In exchange, the city will drop the three public-private proposals under review and put the project out for a competitive bid.
The state at first demanded that the city essentially forgo exploring any alternative transit technologies such as magnetic levitation, or maglev, which is not federally certified. The compromise reverses that requirement, leaving the city’s options open to look at other systems once the “record of decision” is reached for the light rail extension, likely sometime in 2015.
“It’s clearly a softer approach,” Sessoms said this morning. “I think the Commonwealth understands that we would want to look for new technology that could be available 10 years from now,” he later added.
The state still will not provide any money for that research.
The terms also stipulate that the city would have to reimburse the state for the money it contributed toward purchasing a 10.6-mile right of way for light rail if it chooses to place maglev or any other alternative system on that land. The state footed about $20 million of the $40 million price tag to buy from Norfolk Southern the right of way, which stretches from Newtown Road to the Oceanfront parallel to Interstate 264.
The reimbursement would only be for the portion of the land used for a non-light rail system, not necessarily for the whole track.
The terms of the agreement may still change. The City Council still has to vote to approve them in open session, Councilman Jim Wood said Wednesday. The city would then apply for the funding from the Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
Meanwhile this afternoon, Hampton Roads Transit was slated to discuss an accelerated timeline for bringing The Tide to Virginia Beach, with construction starting as soon as 2016.
Yea hit a spot called the Alley! 
