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Emergency bill would keep MARC stations open

Closure decision made during public comment period

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006

Emergency legislation that would postpone for one year the March closures of four MARC train stations in the state is in the works.

Members of the county’s state delegation from District 15 are sponsoring the measure aimed in particular at keeping the Boyds and Dickerson stations on the Brunswick Line open past the March 6 closing date announced last week by the state Department of Transportation. It will also address the Jessup and St. Denis stations on the Camden Line out of Baltimore.

Meanwhile, transportation secretary Robert L. Flanagan told The Gazette Tuesday that he made his decision to close the stations on Jan. 6 — the day after a public hearing on the issue in Barnesville and before the public comment period closed on Jan. 9.

He was not given a written report detailing public comment prior to making his decision, although he met for several hours that day with officials from the Maryland Transit Administration, which operates MARC, Flanagan said. He said they discussed a number of issues, including public testimony. The only document Flanagan was given to review was a one-page fact sheet, which was also provided to residents who attended the hearing, an MTA spokeswoman said.

However, MTA officials said Tuesday the agency was not required by law to hold a public hearing on the proposal in the first place. One was held as part of a community outreach effort, said MTA spokeswoman Cheron Wicker.

State Sen. Robert J. Garagiola (D-Dist. 15) of Germantown was one of the several officials who talked with Flanagan after the closures were announced. His staff is currently drafting the emergency legislation that not only postpones the closures until March 6, 2007, but also requires MTA to ‘‘provide the state legislature ample justification for the closures,” Garagiola’s legislative aide Rachael Fikejs said Tuesday.

The legislation, which will be introduced as quickly as possible, instructs the MTA to answer several questions including what the maintenance and capital costs are for operating the four stations and what the costs would be to bring the stations back on line, Fikejs said.

On Tuesday, Flanagan noted that the average MARC station has 750 riders each day. The average daily ridership for Boyds is 9 and Dickerson is 12.

‘‘I think it’s evident from those numbers that resources should go where we can best grow the ridership,” he said.

He added that the county’s Agriculture Reserve restricts growth of the two stations.

Re-opening the stations in the future is not out of the question, Flanagan said.

‘‘I’m willing to take a comprehensive look at transportation in this area. I know that folks have talked to me about the growth in the Dickerson area. I appreciate that concern, and I am committed to working with the county and working with local officials in trying to find solutions,” Flanagan said. ‘‘I wouldn’t rule out anything in the future.”

But he added, ‘‘Right now the current demand is not really adequate.”

About 30 upcounty residents feel differently. They have formed a new group called Save Maryland Area Transit that plans Thursday to distribute fliers all along the Brunswick Line, urging people to write letters to the governor and legislature.

‘‘I’m not pessimistic because I think we have the public support behind us,” said Miriam Shoenbaum, a Boyds resident and group organizer. ‘‘Everyone knows we need more mass transit, not less.”

A second transit advocacy group, the Transit Riders Action Council of Metropolitan Baltimore, said the closures violate two sections of the Maryland code.

The first, cited at section 7-506, ‘‘requires MTA to publish at least 30 days’ notice of a public hearing in a daily newspaper, as well as to post notices of the hearing at all of the train stations.”

The second, at 7-902, states that MTA will operate passenger trains on the Brunswick Line at a level of service equivalent to the level of service in 1981.

A notice of a Dec. 15 hearing was published Nov. 14 in the Maryland Register, a biweekly state publication that lists upcoming public hearings and regulations. The first daily noticed was published in The Washington Post on Dec. 8. The Dec. 15 hearing was postponed due to inclement weather and rescheduled for Jan. 5.

However, MTA legal staff has researched the issue over the last few days and determined that no public hearing was required, Wicker said.

‘‘We actually learned that the MTA did satisfy all legal requirements because the MTA was not required to hold public hearings. We’re not changing the service,” she said. She likened the change to relocating a bus stop.

Boyds resident Carol Oberdorfer doesn’t agree.

‘‘Why would they hold a public hearing if they weren’t required to?” she asked Tuesday. ‘‘The way we read those provisions is that they are violating both of them.”

‘‘We think it might even be possible to halt the decision on legal grounds,” she added.