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Modified CRMF Design Avoids Owens Corning Impact

Dear East Corridor Stakeholder-

We’re writing to update you about progress being made on the FasTracks Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility (CRMF). The design of the proposed facility has been modified to address concerns raised over the past few months.

Why is a CRMF needed?
RTD needs a new facility to clean, maintain and repair the commuter rail vehicles that will serve the East Corridor and the three other FasTracks commuter rail corridors.

What have the comments been regarding the CRMF proposed Fox North Site?
A Supplemental Environmental Assessment of the proposed CRMF Fox North site – located at 48th Avenue and Fox Street, just northwest of I-25 and I-70 – was prepared and comments were gathered in April and May.

In general, comments about the proposed CRMF have either supported the recommended Fox North site for the maintenance facility or raised concerns about the potential economic and employment impacts that could result if existing property owners on the site decided to close their operations rather than accepting the relocation benefits offered to them.

What are the potential property impacts of the CRMF proposed Fox North Site as originally designed?
RTD needs to purchase three of the properties comprising the Fox North site for the shared Gold Line/Northwest Rail alignment. A small portion of the fourth property, an Owens Corning shingle manufacturing plant, is also needed for the shared alignment. However, RTD would need to purchase the full property to accommodate the original design of the CRMF at the Fox North site.

What are the potential property impacts of the CRMF proposed Fox North Site with the new design?
RTD has developed a modified design for the Fox North site that does not require purchasing the full Owens Corning property while maintaining RTD’s ability to meet the operational requirements of the maintenance facility.

The modified design completely avoids Owens Corning’s manufacturing and administration buildings and only requires RTD to purchase a small amount of additional land, currently used for storage and parking, on the southwest corner of their property. RTD presented the modified design to Owens Corning and is committed to working with them as the modified design is enhanced to ensure that their parking, storage and operational needs can be accommodated.

What did RTD have to do to avoid major impacts to Owens Corning?
To create the modified design, RTD adjusted some standard operating practices. One practice is assuming underground storm-water detention rather than surface ponds. A second practice is designing the facility to be capable of storing the opening day fleet (78 vehicles) on site rather than the 2030 fleet (96 vehicles). The new design is capable of storing more than the opening day fleet but not the entire 2030 fleet. When the fleet expands beyond the opening day size, up to 18 CRMF vehicles (no more than six per corridor) would be stored at the ends-of-line of the Gold Line, North Metro, and Northwest Rail corridors during the few hours the system is not in operation – a practice that is common to avoid running non-revenue producing trains to corridor ends-of-line each morning to start service. All of the modifications, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each, are summarized in the modified Fox North site map.

The modified CRMF design will be included in the East Corridor and Gold Line Final Environmental Impact Statements. Both are expected to be published and available for public comment in August or September.

Please continue to stay involved in the East Corridor Environmental Impact Statement by visiting the project website at www.eastcorridor.com.

Regards,

RTD East Corridor Team

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