(The following article by Katie Nelson was posted on the Arizona Republic website on October 13.)
TEMPE, Ariz. — The deep rumbling of Union Pacific rail cars always has been a familiar sound in Tempe, in particular through the Clark Park neighborhood near Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital and Tempe High School.
But the rumblings are creating grumblings now that Union Pacific wants to build two staging tracks for temporarily storing up to 40 rail cars until their contents can be dropped off at Tempe destinations.
Leaders from the city, surrounding neighborhoods, the hospital and school have united in their opinion that the site Union Pacific wants isn’t appropriate. The Arizona Corporation Commission is keeping tabs on the situation.
City officials are pushing for an alternative site: along the current tracks, south of Baseline Road. It’s near Kiwanis Park, but separated from the park by a canal. And the site is surrounded by industrial businesses, not neighborhoods.
“Really, anywhere between there and Broadway (Road) is preferable to the current site,” said Glenn Kephart, director of Tempe’s Public Works department. “The one they’ve chosen isn’t appropriate.”
But it is legal, which is why all the protest might not matter.
The railroad owns the land, and what it wants to use it for fits with local, state and federal laws.
For Union Pacific, putting the switching tracks there is a matter of efficiency. It’s a way to reduce the number of moves the cars make, said Mark Davis, a Union Pacific spokesman.
The cars now travel west to Phoenix, then double back to Tempe, he said. The new tracks would provide a place for the rail company to drop the cars off for delivery.
Union Pacific chose the Clark Park site because it’s close to where the track splits, with part going to Phoenix and part going to the Tempe customers farther south, according to Davis.
Yet for Tempe Union High School District Superintendent Shirley Miles, it’s a matter of safety.
There are 1,400 students who attend Tempe High School, where the campus athletic fields are adjacent to the selected site. The rail company said it plans to erect a 6-foot chain-link fence and ask the school to keep the current fencing locked at all times.
But in a letter Miles wrote to Union Pacific, she voiced concerns about the safety of students, ” . . . many of whom cross these tracks on a daily basis.” She also pointed out possible noise problems.
The hospital has similar reservations, said Tracy Scott, spokeswoman for Tempe St. Luke’s. Administrators said they are worried the new lines could impact traffic flow, affecting ambulances and other emergency vehicles trying to get to the hospital.
They also are worried about how additional noise would impact patients trying to rest and recuperate, Scott said.
Finally, there are the neighbors near the tracks. Elizabeth Crate Herbert, a mother whose home backs into the proposed site, is writing letters to the Tempe City Council, the commission, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Union Pacific. Herbert cites child safety, homeland security and quality of life as reasons why the tracks should go elsewhere.
“Just because you own property does not mean you can endanger the people who live around them,” she said, of Union Pacific. “If the city, school district and hospital were truly committed to protecting their citizens, there is no question this will be defeated.”