Another Chastain light rail plan will be on KC November ballot

They don’t support it, but Kansas City Council members grudgingly agreed Thursday to place transit activist Clay Chastain’s latest light rail plan on the November ballot.

City Attorney Bill Geary has said that Chastain’s petition initiative may well be legally flawed, but it is not so clearly unconstitutional that it can’t go on the ballot. And Chastain gathered more than the 1,708 valid petition signatures required by the city charter to qualify for a local ballot.

Chastain, who lives most of the time in Virginia, is seeking three sales taxes totaling three-quarter cents for 25 years to help construct a light rail system from Kansas City International Airport to the Cerner campus in south Kansas City, and from Union Station to the Truman Sports Complex.

Three-eighths of the sales taxes would be a citywide tax increase beginning in 2017.

The other three-eighths would be diverted from the city’s bus system beginning in 2024, depriving the buses of about $26 million per year.

The plan also relies on about $1 billion in anticipated federal funding.

Chastain appreciated the Council’s decision to put his measure before voters and said he will be coming to town to campaign for it.

“I’m thrilled, and this light rail plan is going to make Kansas City great again,” he said.

Councilman Dan Fowler said he agreed to put the measure on the ballot because the city charter requires it, but he will be urging everyone to vote against it. He said even a 1-cent citywide sales tax increase, plus a huge federal grant, wouldn’t generate enough money to fulfill Chastain’s vision.

“This isn’t a plan,” Fowler said. “It’s a fairy tale.”

By The Star’s count, this will be the 10th transit-oriented petition initiative that Chastain has mounted in Kansas City since 1995. Most of those were placed on city ballots and trounced by voters who rejected the proposed local tax increases.

In 2006, Kansas City voters approved Chastain’s idea because it did not involve a tax increase but instead called for diverting bus tax money. But the City Council determined that plan was unworkable, refused to implement it, and after Chastain sued, the courts upheld the Council decision.

If voters this time approve Chastain’s idea, the City Council would have to decide how to implement it, or they could again repeal it if they determine it can’t be built because of legal or financial failings.

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Another Chastain light rail plan will be on KC November ballot."