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CSX Moves To Polk’s Government/Media Frontburner

Posted Apr 18, 2007 by Billy Townsend

Updated Apr 18, 2007 at 08:28 AM

Sun ‘n Fun work kept me from posting about this immediately, but The Ledger had an important story Tuesday about Winter Haven’s planned CSX hub. County government now plans to hire a consultant to examine the regional impacts of the hub, specifically its impact on the Polk’s road network.

Takeway line from Tom Palmer’s story: “We want to evaluate the impacts along State Road 60 and beyond State Road 60 as well,” County Manager Mike Herr said. “We don’t know what it will do to the transportation network.”

That’s quite an admission. But the truly important aspect of the story came right at the end. An official with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council said it is still possible for local officials to trigger what’s called the “development of regional impact” process, which is used to help plan large, intense projects. CSX and the city of Winter Haven have avoided that process, which often takes years, by splitting the project in two, so that the key first phase falls below the DRI threshold for acreage. The state signed off on that decision.

I don’t know the legal intricacies, but Palmer’s story indicates that the County Commission could essentially override that decision.
That would be a huge deal.

Couple that revelation with The Ledger’s recent attention to the project’s impacts - and the private CSX meeting set for tomorrow with Lakeland government and business officials - and it seems that attention to the project is building. The politics that follow should be both fascinating and hugely important to the county’s future.

Speaking of the meeting, Chuck at Lakeland Local has been having some fun with the explanations for why it’s private. See here and here.

And, while I’m propping Chuck, let me refer you to his thoughtful discussion of the upsides and downsides to USF-Lakeland’s planned technical focus. He’s riffing off of a story I wrote, so let me acknowledge my own narcissistic conflict of interest in sending you there.

One point of clarification for Chuck. My story did not have the space to make this clear, but there will be English taught at the new campus. It just will not be a point of emphasis. The same statewide curriculum requirements that apply everywhere else will apply here, according to Goodman. And the composition programs may skew toward more technical writing emphasis.