Tualatin struggles to find train noise mitigation funds

The city has earmarked $85,000 for train noise mitigation in the 2008-2009 fiscal year

By Jennifer Clampet

The Times, Nov 13, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (4 Reader comments)

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TUALATIN — Let’s face it. Train noise from TriMet’s WES has the potential to be a problem for the city of Tualatin. But right now the prospective funding to mitigate that problem isn’t good.

Councilor Jay Harris left a work session meeting in October with the sentiment “the project is dead.”

He was angered by the majority of the council’s refusal to back an analysis of a possible gas tax in Tualatin to help pay for the $1.5 million to $2 million projects associated with establishing quiet zones in the city.

Councilors did favor looking into the creation of a Local Improvement District to fund the projects.

But even that idea seemed questionable. City attorney Brenda Braden noted that to do a citywide LID the officials would need to show that the entire city would benefit from the tracks being a quiet zone and not just the nearby neighborhoods.

“We have to show that each property benefits,” Braden said.

That hit a sour note with councilor-elect Joelle Davis who noted that residents in north Tualatin likely wouldn’t buy into a district that quiets the north-south running train tracks but not the other west-east train tracks.

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