The city has started notifying residents living in the path of the planned $3.7 billion elevated commuter rail that all or part of their properties may be condemned.

The letters, which are being sent out in batches, don't specify how much property may be needed along the 20-mile East Kapolei to Ala Moana route.

City officials said last week they could not disclose how many letters will be sent or the number of properties affected until the project's draft environmental impact statement is released in October.

The city has budgeted $70 million to purchase land needed to build the rail system. According to preliminary plans released in late 2006, the city will acquire full or partial right of way on nearly 200 properties.

Among the landowners who received a letter recently is 76-year-old Waipahu resident Saturnina Calbero. She worries she may need to leave the Farrington Highway home where she's lived since 1969.

The city did not disclose details about the project's potential impact on Calbero's property.

"I worry because they said my property is affected," Calbero said. "I'm too old already to move out of my house."

Potentially affected property owners are being notified now so they won't be surprised when the draft environmental impact statement is released, Mark Scheibe, deputy project manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff, said in an e-mail to the Advertiser.

Final right-of-way requirements could still change until the project's design is finalized in 2010, according to the city.

The property acquisition process won't begin until the federal government approves the project's environmental impact statement, which the city hopes will occur in fall 2009. The city hopes to begin construction on the project's first phase, which would connect East Kapolei to Waipahu or Leeward Community College, in December 2009.

"The reasons why they (details of property acquisition) are not available is because they may be subject to change during Federal Transit Administration review," Scheibe said. "This goes for the number of and the different types of parcels that may be impacted."

Once the acquisition process starts, the city said it will determine the fair market value for properties and offer to pay owners that amount. If landowners refuse to sell, the city may condemn the property.

RIGHT TO APPEAL NOT SET

Whether property owners can appeal a decision to condemn remains undecided. City officials have asked the council to allow for expedited condemnation under certain circumstances. Those situations include friendly condemnations and instances when small portions of land need to be acquired.

Council member Nestor Garcia said the council needs to retain some oversight of the condemnation process.

"A piddling amount (of land) to one set of eyes is a lot to another set of eyes, especially if you're the owner," he said. "So that's all relative. I think what we're going to have is the ability for people to have a right of recourse, a right of appeal whether it's to us or to the (transit) authority."

WAIAWA'S BANANA PATCH

In an attempt to minimize the project's land requirements, the city plans to build the elevated, approximately 26-foot-wide guideway within existing street rights of way and on government-owned land. However, the guideway, and its 50-foot-wide stations, will still require the acquisition of various private lots.

Overall, 89 commercial locations, 87 government or utility-owned properties and 13 residential properties could be acquired whole or in part as the rail is built, according to preliminary plans.

In addition to Calbero's home, at least six homes in the Waiawa Banana Patch neighborhood may need to move to make way for a park-and-ride facility meant to serve the train.

The proposed Pearl Highlands park-and-ride has been identified as a key way to funnel North Shore and Central O'ahu commuters onto the rail system. Commuters along H-2 Freeway could drive to the lot, park and take the train to work, avoiding the congested H-1.

Banana Patch property owner Sam Alipio said he has not yet received a letter from the city.