(The following story by Jay Hamburg appeared on the Orlando Sentinel website on February15
ORLANDO, Fla. — An unexpected environmental study could delay or disrupt plans for Central Florida’s commuter-rail system, some worried officials warned Thursday.
The federal government has ordered a survey of how freight trains, which are being moved from a downtown Orlando line to Polk County, would affect residents in the surrounding areas, including Lakeland.
The problem is that the study and any appeals could cause the commuter-rail project to miss deadlines for major federal funding, state officials said. At a minimum, that could cause long delays in the project scheduled to open its first leg from DeLand to Orlando in 2010.
Steve Homan, spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation in Central Florida, called the new request for another study “a conundrum.”
“When you keep changing the rules, it becomes challenging,” Homan said. “We like to play by the rules, but we have to know what the rules are.”
But U.S. Rep. John Mica, R- Winter Park, who has pushed for federal funding of the project, said he thinks the study is a good compromise.
“I feel fairly confident this will protect the project from those that want to disrupt it,” Mica said. “I think it is good news. It would be more disruptive to proceed without this. It will keep further delays from happening.”
Mica said he has been meeting with members of the Federal Transit Administration to produce a study that could be completed in 60 days. “Getting the federal government to do anything in 60 days is very close to becoming [a] miracle,” he conceded.
The federal government is chipping in about $300 million for the commuter-rail project, which is supposed to be completed in 2013. “I do not believe full funding will be impacted in any way,” Mica said.
The $615 million commuter-rail line is being built using federal, state and local money, including cash from Orlando and Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties. A separate $491 million deal between the state and CSX includes the purchase of 61 miles of track from DeLand to Poinciana.
As part of the deal, freight trains that now run through Orlando during the day would be rerouted on the CSX line west of the city and go through Lakeland and Winter Haven, where the company is planning to build a major rail yard.
CSX already has purchased 318 acres for its new Winter Haven center and has an option on another 900 acres. The company said it thinks the new facility will be an economic boon to the area.
However, some people in the Lakeland area are concerned that the extra trains will wreak havoc with the city’s commuters and businesses.
“We don’t deserve to be turned into a freight superhighway,” said Julie Townsend, executive director of the Downtown Lakeland Partnership. “We were not consulted, but we’re expected to let them shove it down our throats.”
Lakeland motorists would inherit a problem that has plagued Orlando drivers for years: Waiting in traffic for freight trains to pass, sometimes during rush hour.
“This is just a transfer of a problem from Orlando to Lakeland,” Townsend said.
Because of those concerns, Polk County’s legislative delegation has launched a fierce attack of the deal in Tallahassee.
“It’s a very shortsighted plan,” said Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican and critic of the CSX deal. “Polk County is affected by this, and I think it’s important that this be assessed.”
Earlier this month, Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, persuaded state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and some skeptical lawmakers to question the state department’s liability-insurance agreement with CSX.
Dockery also has complained that the state worked out its deal with CSX without enough public input.
“A project of this magnitude costing state taxpayers half a billion dollars should be openly discussed and should go through the required reviews,” Dockery said in an e-mail Thursday.
Florida DOT’s Homan said the unanimous approval of the commuter-rail deal by Orlando, Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Osceola counties doesn’t mean the project is a lock.
“We need people in Central Florida who are advocates to become vocal about it,” he said.