Meeting will weigh North Side and Golden Valley light rail stations

Planners of a proposed light rail line serving the northern suburbs want input on whether it should stop in north Minneapolis and Golden Valley.

A public meeting next Thursday will focus on whether the 13-mile line should include stops at Plymouth Avenue, Golden Valley Road or both. The Plymouth Avenue stop in Theodore Wirth Park is technically located just across the Minneapolis border in Golden Valley, though the park is controlled by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. would be one of just three Minneapolis stops outside downtown.

Laura Baenen, a spokeswoman for the project, said the Met Council is opening to building one or both stations, "depending on engineering factors, environmental factors, cost and community support."

Above: Renderings of the proposed Golden Valley station, from a Bottineau project video.

The Plymouth Avenue station is under discussion because Minneapolis did not request it until after the project's draft environmental impact statement was nearly complete.

The project office and local leaders will make a formal recommendation this spring on whether to build the stations, which will eventually be forwarded to the Met Council.

The current route follows Olsen Memorial Highway to Wirth Park, where it would travel north along the park's edge. That was chosen several years ago over another route that would have turned north on Penn Ave.

The Plymouth Ave. stop is very close to the Theodore Wirth golf course and chalet, a popular recreation center.

Like the controversial Southwest project, the line would travel in or near parkland. But Minneapolis Park Board president Liz Wielinski said the interaction with project planners has been more agreeable than Southwest, where the board is locked into a dispute over a channel crossing.

"We're actually making an effort not to run into Kenilworth Part 2," Wielinski said, referring to the disputed Southwest corridor. "They're being very very cooperative this time around so that we don't run into this again."

The public meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Golden Valley at the Church of St. Margaret Mary Visitation Hall, 2323 Zenith Ave. North.

Below is a map of the Minneapolis-area stops along the line, in addition to the Goldey Valley station. Click on the stations for a street view.

And here are some ground-level shots of the North Side stations along the Bottineau line, which would begin at Target Field downtown.

Van White (at Olsen Memorial Highway):

Penn Ave (at Olsen Memorial Highway):

Plymouth Ave (just west of Xerxes Ave):