Major Investment Study / Draft Environmental Impact Statement
3. Conceptual Engineering, Operations Analysis, and Costs
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3.1.5 RIGHT-OF-WAY
As part of the construction of the SVM and in particular
as a result of the construction of additional tracks as well as the construction
of new stations and expansion of existing stations, properties adjacent
to the proposed alignment would be impacted to varying degrees. As noted
in Chapter 5, the footprint for the project
encompasses requirements for all alternatives. The specific impacts and
requirements for property will be determined during preliminary engineering.
Table 3.1-2 [PDF] summarizes the potential
property impacts that may occur based on the extent of the project footprint.
New station developments are generally located in
suburban areas and/or currently vacant parcels with minimal negative impacts
to adjacent property owners. The vast majority of impacts to property parcels
would result in no loss of function or operation to the property, characterized
by sliver takes in unused slope areas between the existing railroad right-of-way
and those areas of adjacent parcels that are in use. To identify an appropriate
budget for the property acquisition that will be required, an analysis
was conducted for light rail and commuter rail alternatives based on classifications
of the level of impact to the identified parcels and using tax assessment
value data for those parcels. The assessed values may not represent actual
market values and in some cases these data were not available and allowances
had to be made. The overall estimated budget for property acquisition therefore,
is felt to be adequate in whole, but not at the level of each parcel or
within short segments of the project. This is particularly true given the
fact that the exact location of passing sidings could still change during
preliminary engineering resulting in a shift in impacts. Additional information
on impacts to adjacent properties can be found in Section
5.3.4 of Chapter 5.
A second source of property cost for SVM right-of-way
is in the form of an allowance for the entire project that covers the negotiation
of an agreement with NS, any additional construction costs required to
reach an agreement that are not specified in Technical Report 2.7 -
Capital Cost Estimation Results, costs for access to the NS right-of-way,
resolution of indemnification issues, and a capitalized value for long-term
impacts on maintenance and operation. These costs are directly and indirectly
related to establishing - or acquiring rights for the use of - SVM right-of-way.
Also covered in this allowance are costs associated with similar issues
with CSX, Amtrak, and PECO. While the breakdown of costs covered by this
allowance may be different for each alternative, it is felt that the order
of magnitude of the total is the same, and there are no indications that
one alternative would require a significantly lower allowance than another.
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