Public debate over the location of East Link light-rail has not died down, despite Sound Transit’s decision to run the route along 112th Avenue Northeast and Bellevue Way.

Seventy-six people spoke at a public hearing Monday night, in what turned into a battle of property owners on the proposed route against those who wanted the council to push the project forward on its current path. A majority of those that packed City Council chambers and the adjoining rooms were in favor of working with Sound Transit to make sure the project gets done on time.

“It’s past time to do all that worrying and go forward with the courage to build this thing,” said Martin Paquette, a member of Move Bellevue Forward, a pro-light-rail group.

However, a large portion of the crowd also spoke out against the project. They were concerned about the impacts to residents, the increased noise and the potential traffic consequences.

“East Link is not a magic carpet,” said Bellevue resident Bill Hirt. “It will increase, not decrease, congestion, and it relentlessly violates the laws of our village, and it violates the laws of our land.”

Monday’s hearing was the second of two public events to review new design options. As it is now planned, the rail line will cross Southeast 15th and Eighth streets, with a crossing from the east to west side of 112th Avenue at Southeast Sixth Street. The two options push the road crossing south to Southeast 15th Street. One option runs the train at street-level, with the other creating a 40-foot high fly-over that dives into a trench, going under Southeast Fourth.

These new options received mixed reviews. Residents on the west side of 112th Avenue could see trains infringe on their property. But businesses in the Bellefield Office Park and Bellevue Club area pushed for those options, as they could save their land from disturbance.

Before the public meeting, councilmembers continued their weekly discussion of the project. Councilmembers questioned city staff and Sound Transit personnel about avoiding noise impacts from bells and gates at crossings and increased costs of running the train in a trench. Sound Transit didn’t have all the answers to the council’s questions. Officials said further details will come out once the organizations hammer out the details on funding the approximately $300 million downtown tunnel, and further engineering work can be done.

“In order to continue in a problem-solving mode and get to that next level of detail that is important to the council, we need to get the project into final design so we can answer these questions once and for all with bricks and mortar,” said Sound Transit Planning Director Ric Ilgenfritz.

The hearing included people from a variety of organizations, companies and residents. One of the most passionate appeared to be Daniel Warwick, a student at Interlake High School and the youngest speaker by far. A self-professed fiscal conservative, Warwick said that roads are expensive and with a consistently growing city, Bellevue needs to look ahead when it makes  decisions about light-rail.

“It will be less expensive to shift some of our trips to light-rail,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be you or me, but maybe it will be someone in the future who lives in an apartment where the Safeway distribution site is now.”