This final environmental impact report (FEIR) describes and summarizes the transportation impacts, environmental impacts, and costs for the Gold Line Foothill Extension Project being considered in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties, California. The project is an extension of light rail transit from the city of Pasadena on the west to the cities of Montclair and Upland on the east.
The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority (the “Authority”) previously prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (Draft EIS/EIR) for the Gold Line Foothill Extension Project (the “Project”). The Gold Line Foothill Extension is referred to as Phase 2 of the overall Gold Line Foothill Extension Project and, at complete build out, would span from the cities of Pasadena to Montclair. The Foothill Extension Project was divided into two subsequent phases: Phase 2A, spanning from Pasadena to Azusa, and Phase 2B, spanning from Azusa to Montclair. In conjunction with Authority’s decision to proceed with Phase 2A, a Final EIR was prepared based on the Draft EIS/EIR and was certified in 2007, though only for the purposes of extension’s Phase 2A. Because no federal action or funding is involved in Phase 2A, no NEPA action is required. The portion of the Phase 2A from Pasadena to Azusa includes 11.5 miles of track through six cities (Pasadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, and Azusa), six stations, and the construction of a new Maintenance and Operation Facility (M&O Facility).
"The proposed project site is 11.94 acres in size and consists of the three contiguous blocks that are bounded by Green Street to the north, DeLacey Avenue to the east, Del Mar Boulevard to the south and Pasadena Avenue to the west. Vehicular access is provided via an existing system of roadways with direct access from east-west routes: Green Street, Dayton Street, Valley Street, and Del Mar Boulevard, while Pasadena Avenue and DeLacey Street are the primary north-south routes. The project site is currently developed with 21 vacant industrial and institutional, uses, and one single family residential use (215,610 total square feet) associated with the Worldwide Church of God's former east campus of Ambassador College. The existing buildings are currently vacant. The project applicant, Sares-Regis, proposes to construct 820 residential units and 22,154 square feet of ground floor retail with 1,693 underground parking spaces. The project is intended to be transit-oriented because of its proximity (two to five blocks) to the Metra Gold Line."--Exec. Summary.
The familiar image of Los Angeles as a metropolis built for the automobile is crumbling. Traffic, air pollution, and sprawl motivated citizens to support urban rail as an alternative to driving, and the city has started to reinvent itself by developing compact neighborhoods adjacent to transit. As a result of pressure from local leaders, particularly with the election of Tom Bradley as mayor in 1973, the Los Angeles Metro Rail gradually took shape in the consummate car city. Railtown presents the history of this system by drawing on archival documents, contemporary news accounts, and interviews with many of the key players to provide critical behind-the-scenes accounts of the people and forces that shaped the system. Ethan Elkind brings this important story to life by showing how ambitious local leaders zealously advocated for rail transit and ultimately persuaded an ambivalent electorate and federal leaders to support their vision. Although Metro Rail is growing in ridership and political importance, with expansions in the pipeline, Elkind argues that local leaders will need to reform the rail planning and implementation process to avoid repeating past mistakes and to ensure that Metro Rail supports a burgeoning demand for transit-oriented neighborhoods in Los Angeles. This engaging history of Metro Rail provides lessons for how the American car-dominated cities of today can reinvent themselves as thriving railtowns of tomorrow.
