RTD has notified 164 more private-property owners in the west light-rail corridor that it needs portions of their land for the $707 million train line.
The Regional Transportation District already has notified 16 property owners that it needs their entire properties, but for most of the new acquisitions, RTD needs only a portion of the land, said Pauletta Tonilas, spokeswoman for the FasTracks transit expansion.
The west line is the first that RTD will build under FasTracks. The agency also needs land or easements from 16 public entities for the west line.
In documents released Friday, RTD said it needs 1,848 square feet, or about 12.7 percent, of Ruby Griffin’s property at 1255 Dudley St. in Lakewood.
Griffin, who’s lived there for 45 years, said she doesn’t know what RTD’s land taking will do to a masonry wall she has that separates her property from the West 13th Avenue right of way where the train line will be constructed.
“What will they do to replace it, or will they leave my property open?” Griffin asked.
She said RTD told property owners that they will get more information from the agency within the next 30 to 90 days.
RTD said it needs 257 square feet of John Belt’s property on West 13th Avenue near Carr Street.
“If they take 4 feet from my fence toward my house, it will significantly impact me,” Belt said, about possibly losing a strip of land. “I’m very confused and in a state of turmoil until they tell me more.”
“Generally speaking, the train is a good thing,” he said. “But I’ve been attending every meeting I’ve been notified of, and I can’t get a straight answer. This is the first inkling I’ve had that they are coming this close and taking my property.”
The west-line train will largely run in the West 13th Avenue corridor through Denver and Lakewood to Oak Street, where it will turn south and head to the Federal Center. From there, it will run along West Sixth Avenue to the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden. RTD said it must pay just compensation when it takes property by eminent domain.
RTD said it needs 758 square feet of Virginia Viskup’s property on McIntyre Street in unincorporated Jefferson County.
“I want to know how far they’re going to come in,” Viskup said. She has lived at the location for 37 years.
Viskup worries she might lose a line of pine trees on the property that act as a barrier to the noise from West Sixth Avenue. She’s also worried that she could lose income she gets from a billboard company that rents space for a sign.
“I see no reason why they sent out silly letters that tell me nothing and make me upset for 30 to 90 days before they tell me what they’re going to do,” she said.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
