Orlando Sentinel to the Mormons...plan big time, just don't delay AAF

[spuwho]

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board has responded to the letter from Deseret Ranch expressing their interests around the new All Aboard Florida. Also of note, the Sentinel taking a published concern over Floridian sprawl.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-05-25/news/os-ed-deseret-delay-orlando-train-20130524_1_aboard-florida-rail-project-planning-effort

By all means, plan Deseret, but don't delay rail project
May 25, 2013
Many of us have experienced the torment of driving from Orlando to Miami.

The traffic can be horrific and some of the drivers are, for reasons we can't begin to explain, among the state's most obnoxious. And that's saying something in Florida.

For those reasons alone there's a lot to like about the "All Aboard Florida" proposal to launch passenger rail service between two of Florida's biggest cities.

We also like the idea because, unlike many ambitious private-sector projects, All Aboard isn't looking for a government handout.

Florida East Coast Industries, the venerable and respected company backing the passenger rail project, is using its own money. Yes, you read correctly, its own money at a time when corporate freeloading has become not only acceptable but expected. Individual welfare bad; corporate welfare good.

What All Aboard wants â€" needs â€" from government is access to existing right of way along the BeachLine Expressway to connect its north-south coastal track with inland Orlando International Airport.

New rail connection. Private funding. Lots of jobs. Minimal environmental consequences.

What's not to like?

Unfortunately, another big player has answered that question.

Deseret Ranches, a sprawling, 295,000-acre cattle and crop operation, wants the rail project to be included in a grand transportation planning effort.

Ranch managers say they're worried the agriculture businesses will be under increasing development pressure, and say they want to undertake a comprehensive planning effort that includes transportation.

No doubt the Deseret property â€" so big, so consequential to this region's future â€" needs a plan. Its Innovation Way East proposal was a 4,600-acre example of sprawl and exhibit A for why any move to develop the property needs to be better planned.

We appreciate Deseret's desire to look ahead. What's less clear is how far away the finish line is for such a planning effort, and whether it would delay All Aboard Florida.

All Aboard wants to start construction at the end of this year, and wants to have the trains running by the end of 2015. Meanwhile, there's capital to be raised, lots of it, because the company estimates the project will cost $1.5 billion.

Injecting All Aboard into a separate planning effort, whose outcomes are unknown, would jeopardize the project's chances to stay on track. What if this new plan calls for changes to All Aboard's route or station locations? What if the planning effort is delayed by an environmental fight over a new road?

We think it's past time to plan the future of the Deseret property, for the sake of its owners and the rest of Central Florida.

But we don't think that should hold an important rail initiative hostage.

[Ocklawaha]

Traditionally large land owners with developer mentalities would permit a rail line to cross their property on easement in return for a station. Not all trains need to stop at said station of course but it's just a matter of time until FECI/FLAGLER/AAF decides to develop their property near Cocoa Beach, so a couple of daily trains making more then the currently advertised stops is totally possible. There is a similar buzz in Stuart and Fort Pierce, in fact their conversation is already around development near the 'no station'. Yeah right. The conversation is also already going on in both Jacksonville and St. Augustine... Stations and massive development interest. Check out our front page tomorrow.

ust a damn shame that the Mormons don't own a place to develop a station in downtown Orlando, but hey, they've got the money-anything could happen.