(The following story by Merissa Green appeared on The Lakeland Ledger website on October 29.)
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — The ‘gorilla’ coming to the city couldn’t be tamed Wednesday morning by Lakeland lawyers who tried to convince Winter Haven city commissioners to reconsider a proposed CSX rail freight facility.
The City Commission unanimously approved the terms of the railroad’s plan, once characterized by a former Lakeland city commissioner as ‘500-pound gorilla on steroids,” for a 318-acre freight facility north of State Road 60.
Lakeland’s legal team said it will present options to that city’s officials, including the possibility that the Winter Haven decision could be appealed.
Besides the 318 acres included in the project approved Wednesday, CSX has an option to buy 930 acres adjacent to the proposed facility, but that extra acreage is not included in it’s request to the city, and Lakeland’s lawyers said that’s a mistake.
David Theriaque, a Tallahassee lawyer representing Lakeland officials, said the additional 930 acres that CSX has under contract should be a part of the development of regional impact.
Theriaque also challenged Winter Haven officials by saying the city ignored its own comprehensive growth plan requirements.
‘I don’t think anybody can refute that CSX has described this project as a Phase 1 and Phase 2,’ he said. ‘CSX’s own documents confirm that 930 acres should’ve been aggregated.’
But Duke Woodson, CSX’s lawyer, said Theriaque’s statements were old news from 2006 when the project was just getting off the ground. Woodson of the law firm Foley & Lardner in Orlando said combining the 318 acres with the 930 acres has already been discussed with the city and with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council. But officials decided it didn’t make sense to include the 930 acres if it’s not a part of the rail company’s immediate plans.
‘CSX has it (930 acres) under contract to purchase,’ Woodson said. ‘They may purchase it. They may not purchase it.