SacRT is undertaking a study for redevelopment of the largely unused parking lot at Meadowview light rail station. The ‘Meadowview Station Transit-Oriented Communities Study‘ page provides more information. Sarah Poe of SacRT is the project lead. AIM is the outreach contractor, and wsp is the technical contractor. City of Sacramento and SHRA are also partners. The study is funded by the SACOG Green Means Go program, intended to accelerate infill development.

The Meadowview Station hosts a vast empty parking lot. It was built under a model that said everyone works downtown, and everyone drives to the station. Neither are true. Utilization is reported to be about 70 out of 470 parking spaces, and that is at the peak, not the usual day-to-day. SacRT did not know how many people walk or bicycle to the station from the neighborhood.

One of the issues for anything innovative happening at Meadowview is the that south side of Meadowview Road between 24th Street and Detroit Blvd is government property, with only the community center being activated. Some buildings appear to be abandoned. The entire area is a food desert, with one poorly rated small grocery store nearby, but regular grocery stores 1.4 miles or more away. Any development at the station would have to include a food source of some sort.

The community meeting this week at Pannell Community Center was not well attended, but those who did attend had many questions and suggestions. The biggest question of all is, where do we find a developer(s) for the project. What will it take to entice them. How will the infill really serve the expressed needs of the community.

There is a survey available online, and another workshop will be held in October.

The display board are shown below, as photos, not as design originals, so they are a little hard to read, but will give you an overall impression. Three alternatives were presented on the boards.

• Meadowview Station