In late 2002 and 2003, CSX approached Lakeland about building rail a hub that sounds similar to, but smaller than, the one proposed for Winter Haven, according to city records.

The hub would have served as a distribution point for an estimated 220,000 vehicles per year. The cars would have been shipped in by train and then trucked out.

CSX wanted to build the hub on a large piece of property it owns along Kathleen Road, just northwest of the former Florida Tile site. That’s near the spot where CSX’s two main peninsular Florida lines merge.

Some of you may remember that the city and county hoped to use that site to lure the Florida A&M law school that eventually went to Orlando several years ago. Lakeland has long eyed the property, which is largely unused now, as a potential site for a regional park or attractive business complex. The property sits along one of the prime entryways into downtown Lakeland.

The city did not want a major rail hub there, citing the largely residential character of the surrounding neighborhoods, which was incompatible with the more intense industrial zoning CSX needed to operate.

In a letter dated June 2, 2003, Lakeland Planning Director Jim Studiale outlined the city’s position: “The applicant estimates 220,000 vehicles shipped per year and a total of 175 heavy truck trips entering, or leaving per day via Kathleen Road. The truck trips are now proposed to use Kathleen Road which traverses a large residential area on their way to Interstate 4. Clearly this does not create a moderate or significant impact but is a very significant impact [emphasis from the letter] on the surrounding neighborhoods. The level of external impacts because of truck traffic, trains, noise, vibration and the physical appearance of the use is very significant.”

The smaller first phase of the Winter Haven CSX project is expected to generate 1,150 truck trips per day when it opens, likely in 2009. That’s more than six times the number of trips Lakeland considered a “very significant impact” for the Kathleen Road area.
However, it’s important to note that the Kathleen Road area is far more residential than the stretch of State Road 60 adjacent to the Winter Haven CSX project.

Ed. Note: I have mentioned this before on this blog, but this a good time to reiterate it in the spirit of disclosure. My wife, Julie Townsend, is the part-time executive assistant for the Downtown Lakeland Partnership, a group of business owners and employees that seeks to market downtown. Julie and I live in the Lake Morton neighborhood not far from downtown. If you’re wondering, I first became interested in the CSX project and its impacts after Rick Dantzler mentioned it while I was interviewing him about the proposed Heartland Parkway, which would tie into the CSX project.

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