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· aft Status Report on the Northstar Commuter Rail Project. June 7, 2001 <br /> <br />Four scoping meetings were held to review the background <br />materials distributed in the Scoping Booklet. For more information <br />on the scoping meetings, see Section IX.G <br /> <br />C. Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and <br /> Supplemental Environmental Documentation <br />Mn/DOT and the NCDA widely circulated the DEIS and <br />Supplemental Environmental Document to affected local <br />jurisdictions, regional, state and federal agencies, Native American <br />tribes, and interested groups. The DEIS was issued on November <br />13, 2000. The DEIS comment period ran through January 12, <br />2001. During that review and comment period, three public <br />hearings were held at various locations along the project corridor to <br />take oral testimony. On February 5, 2001 a Supplemental <br />Environmental document to the DEIS was distributed that identified <br />the potential impacts associated with a proposed commuter rail <br />station at 7th Street Northeast in northeast Minneapolis. The DEIS <br />review and comment period was therefore reopened from February <br />7 to March 7, 2001. An additional public hearing was also held on <br />February 27, 2001, which focused on the proposed Minneapolis <br />Northeast station. <br /> <br />As presented in Section III, the following project goals were <br />adopted for the project during the MIS process: <br />· Improve mobility and safety within the corridor <br />· Minimize adverse environmental impacts and foster positive <br /> environmental effects <br />· Encourage transportation-supportive land use and development <br /> patterns <br />· Provide a cost-effective and efficient transportation system <br /> <br />Section 6.2 of the October 2000 DEIS summarized the results of <br />the impact evaluation against the measures used to establish the <br />effectiveness of the alternatives in satisfying the goals of the <br />Northstar project. <br /> <br />The identification of a Preferred Alternative for the Northstar <br />Corridor is a specific step in the project development process <br />following the public review and comment period on the Draft ElS. <br />The preferred alternative is based on balancing the design and <br />environmental information, goals and objectives of the project, <br />community comments, and technical data (such as ridership, <br /> <br />Northstar Corridor Development Authority l l <br /> <br /> <br />