Honolulu residents likely will get to vote in November on the city's plan to build a $3.7 billion elevated commuter rail.

The only question remaining — following an 8-0 vote by the City Council yesterday to put the issue on the ballot — is the wording.

The ballot item will either be provided by the council or the nonprofit Stop Rail Now.

The council gave final approval yesterday to a measure that asks voters whether the city shall "establish a steel wheel on steel rail transit system."

The council's wording will be placed on the ballot only if an ordinance supported by Stop Rail Now fails to make the November election.

The Stop Rail Now's ballot issue reads: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail."

"I am very happy that one way or another there will be a question on the ballot this coming fall as to whether or not rail should happen here on O'ahu," said council member Charles Djou, who opposes the rail project. "The real winners today are the voters of O'ahu, because they get the final say on this."

Mayor Mufi Hannemann could reject the council's ballot item via a veto that cannot be overridden by the council. He was not available for comment yesterday, but he previously said he approves of putting the rail issue to voters.

Stop Rail Now submitted a petition to the city last week with more than 49,000 signatures to get its ordinance on the November ballot. The city clerk, who is working to validate the signatures, plans to announce by Sept. 3 whether Stop Rail Now's petition is successful.

"It's somewhat gratifying that they're recognizing that our initiative is heading for the ballot, and that if our initiative does go on the ballot, that they will not pose their question," said Stop Rail Now co-founder Dennis Callan.

Callan said the wording of the council's ballot item does not really give voters a choice because it is nonbinding.

"It pretends to give voters a choice. But in fact it's a win for rail either way," Callan said.

Stop Rail Now favors alternatives to rail, such as an elevated, high-occupancy highway.

The group initially tried to file its petition on Aug. 4 but it was rejected after the city clerk said the petition was delivered too late for the November election. The group subsequently sued the city. On Thursday, Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto ordered the city clerk to process the petition.

Sakamoto's ruling was a major victory for anti-rail groups. However, Stop Rail Now may face more legal hurdles because there still may be a dispute over how many signatures it needs to get on the November ballot.

SIGNATURES AN ISSUE

City Clerk Denise De Costa maintains the group will need valid signatures of at least 44,525 registered voters. Stop Rail Now claims it only needs about 30,000.

Stop Rail Now launched its petition drive April 21 with the goal of gathering 40,000 signatures.

Placing a rail question on the ballot could settle once and for all a decades-old question of whether the city should build a commuter rail system.

"If the vote comes out against it, in whatever question, the (Federal Transit Administration) ain't gonna fund it, and there's no reason for us to move forward with it," said council member Todd Apo, who supports the project. "If the vote is for the project, that ends all debate in the same way. It ends it in the other direction."

Hannemann hopes to start construction on the 20-mile elevated commuter rail project in late 2009 or early 2010. The project is expected to cost an inflation-adjusted $5 billion and take nearly a decade to complete all phases.

AGENCY PLAN DIES

Separately yesterday, the council essentially killed a Charter amendment that would have asked voters whether the city should create a public transit authority to oversee design, construction and operation of the commuter rail line. The measure failed because council members could not agree on how much autonomy to give the proposed agency.

The failure was disappointing for project supporters, but is not considered a major setback.

Just how a rail question would fare at the polls remains to be seen. According to the recent Hawai'i Poll, which was conducted by Ward Research Inc. for The Honolulu Advertiser and KGMB9, more than three-fourths of respondents said the electorate should get to vote on rail. Nearly two-thirds said they would cast their ballot in favor of rail.

Placing the rail question on the ballot is likely to renew debate on Honolulu mass-transit alternatives and fuel an advertising blitz for and against the project.

Part of that effort could include educating rail supporters to vote "no" on the Stop Rail Now initiative, Apo said.

"As part of the voter education, they need to understand if they support this project, they need to vote 'no' on that," he said. "People need to get educated. The problem is there's going to be a lot of advocacy out there."