What about a routing that moves the Moodie Station into easy walking distance of DND (< 1 km) and Wesley Clover; moves the station away from Crystal Beach; provides closer transit to Kanata North business area (and service to an area that can be intensified); provides a transit route through the middle-ish of the residential part of Kanata North; still makes use of the pre-built underpass at Kanata Blvd; provides a stop at the pedestrian overpass of the 417; and provides an alternate location (albeit probably a confrontational one) for the LMSF (or a P&R)?
Cons (compared to the preferred route along the north side of the 417): That it would remove about 50 million-dollar houses along the east side of the golf course; the routing is longer (so, slower); it misses going CLOSE to the existing Eagleson P&R (which could be returned to the NCC as a trade for the old rail line).
Taking the 50 houses might sound drastic, but if the City had to pay $1.5M each, then that is a $75M cost to acquire a lot of the land for a $1B project. It is similar to the logic used by the City when it proposed removing 26 houses along Roman (for about $35M) to avoid building a $50M tunnel. The big difference is that the routing I suggest puts the train in the center of Kanata, where it might actually be useful for residents.
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