Resident urges quiet zone on Bavaria Road as train horn noise and nighttime activity rise

A Chaska resident urged the City Council on June 16 to pursue a quiet zone at the Bavaria Avenue/Bavaria Road railroad crossing after he said train traffic and horn use increased markedly since he bought his house.

Scott Morse, who identified himself as a resident and homeowner in the Brooks Ridge/Pioneer Hollow area, told the council that when he bought his house about eight years ago he was told trains would run “about twice a week.” He said they now run “about 6 times a day” and that horn noise has sometimes awakened household members at 3 a.m. “I'm 52 yards from my back door to the south rail of the railroad tracks,” Morse told the council, and he said planting pine trees is not an effective mitigation for horn noise.

City staff response and feasibility: city staff described prior meetings with Twin Cities and Western Railroad and said some noise-causing switching activity was moved into the industrial park after earlier discussions, and that temporary disruptions earlier this month were caused by work related to the Southwest Light Rail project. Staff said the railroad’s new president had indicated the company would review horn use standards and move activity back into the industrial park once work on the light-rail project is done. Staff also said a silent crossing is physically possible at the location but that the key issues are cost and how to equitably allocate expenses among properties that would benefit.

Costs and precedent: staff reminded the council that a prior silent crossing in the Clover Ridge neighborhood was installed at the developer’s expense and that past precedent has favored asking benefiting property owners to contribute. An earlier design produced an estimated cost in the range of $700,000 to $750,000 (one council comment recalled a figure “about a million”) and staff said they are updating cost estimates and calculating per-homeowner assessments under alternative scenarios (single neighborhood vs. combined neighborhoods).

Next steps: staff said they are compiling updated cost estimates and would continue to coordinate with the Twin Cities and Western Railroad and copy the resident on responses. City staff noted uncertainty about outside grant opportunities but said they would check; staff emphasized they are running numbers both as a single-neighborhood project and as a dual-neighborhood project to see how costs would spread.

No formal council action was taken at the meeting; staff characterized the item as a visitor presentation and said they would follow up with more information to residents and council members.