The Metropolitan Council, the regional governmental agency in charge of overseeing the planning and development of the Metro Light Rail recently approved reinitiating a community outreach project, with the goal of getting the opinions of corridor communities on the future design.

In early July, the council approved reducing $250 million of the future Southwest Metro LRT line, recommended by the corridor communities of St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Minneapolis.

Despite the reduction of funds toward the project, community outreach coordinator for the Metropolitan Council Nkongo Cigolo said the corridor communities demonstrated strong support for the future Metro Green Line Extension by committing funds in some areas and suggesting reductions in others.

“Many representatives and community members of the corridor communities expressed a lot of support for the project, however there seemed to be some trouble with the expected cost of the project in whole,” Cigolo said. “For this reason the council made a decision to allow the public to have a greater voice in the process, so that there is not as much confusion as to where we are placing our efforts.”

Metropolitan Council Chair Adam Duinick said allowing the public to make an impact on the process of a project of this size is critical because there is a lot of people it must serve and a lot of money that must be invested

“Southwest LRT is a once-in-a-century project and reinitiating municipal consent is critical to ensuring that there is an opportunity for public and community response to the project’s current design.”

Sophomore Abati Dedefo said the ability for the public to have a say in the development is key to the public satisfaction with a project of this magnitude.

“The light rail is a very large and expensive project so I think it is important that those in charge listen to those who will use it,” Dedefo said.

The Council will a seek municipal consent from Hennepin County and the cities of Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Hopkins, St. Louis Park and Minneapolis starting in early September through October to increase public input on decisions such as design and funding. Location is still to be determined.