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Greg Brimhall thought he and his neighbors would have a concrete wall muffling the sounds of TRAX trains rolling past their West Jordan homes.

Instead, they are getting a pile of dirt.

Brimhall and others learned this month that the Utah Transit Authority plans to install a berm between their homes and the proposed Mid-Jordan light-rail line to nip noise.

"We have documented evidence," Brimhall said. "It is a classic bait and switch."

But a UTA representative maintains residents were promised noise mitigation, not a specific remedy.

"We never, ever promised anybody that they were going to get this over this," said agency spokeswoman Carrie Bohnsack-Ware.

Meanwhile, Mayor Dave Newton and state Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, are demanding a meeting with UTA to sort out the dispute.

It all began in October, when UTA conducted an open house to acquaint residents with plans to extend TRAX to 5600 West and the Daybreak development in South Jordan.

Brimhall maintains agency representatives assured him and other residents who live near 9000 South and the Old Bingham Highway that they would get an 8-foot-high concrete wall to reduce noise from the trains that would pass within 100 feet of his home. He notes that the Environmental Impact Study even shows a sound wall as part of the project's plans.

But this month, Brimhall learned UTA plans to install a berm instead, which would save $400,000. He said a member of the TRAX team told him the wall was an "obvious place" to trim the project's $518 million budget.

"That's what they are doing at our long-term expense," Brimhall said.

Because the berm's base has to be wide, it cannot be placed as close to the homes or the tracks to provide optimal sound shielding, Brimhall said. Plus, the berm in time will erode, further reducing its effectiveness.

While Newton won't characterize what happened as a bait-and-switch scheme, he said the impression residents took from the meeting was they would get a sound wall, not a berm.

"I envision the hills just being a weed patch without any landscaping plan," Newton said.

Bohnsack-Ware denies any misrepresentation, though the EIS does indicate a wall. She points to a box that states: "Noise barrier locations are generally shown. Exact placement, height and style will be determined in final design."

She said the EIS plan showed just one way to mitigate sound problems, which is UTA's ultimate goal. UTA engineers, she added, have determined that a berm can be as effective as the sound wall and that it will be landscaped.

"We are living up to what we said we would do," Bohnsack-Ware said.

Work began this month on the new TRAX line with completion set for 2012.

Mascaro said a berm might work as well as a wall, and it might look nice, especially if it can be landscaped with trees. But he bristles at the way the public was kept out of the loop in the decision.

"Four-hundred-thousand dollars in the total price of this project is pocket change," Mascaro says. "But it is the process. Nobody likes surprises when they are dealing with a government or quasi-government entity."