STUART \u2013 If one Martin County commissioner has his way, both his colleagues and the top brass at the high-speed railway firm Brightline will consider a different unincorporated county location for its proposed Treasure Coast station and a potentially less expensive station option to get local service up and running.<\/p>\n
District 5 Commissioner Ed Ciampi brought up both ideas during the board member comment portion of the June 9 meeting, beginning with a brief history of Brightline\u2019s initial reluctance to provide a Treasure Coast stop and then later agreeing to one as part of the 2018 lawsuit settlement agreement. Brightline ultimately agreed to place one station on the Treasure Coast, among other stipulations and concessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it became sort of a contest,\u201d Ciampi recalled, alluding to both Martin County and Fort Pierce submitting proposals for the station. \u201cAs you know, the community of Stuart was selected. We did get a certain amount of accommodations in that negotiation. Some are still valid, some are completed, some are not and they seem a little more nebulous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Ciampi admitted that he\u2019d initially preferred the Martin County Fairgrounds site but had acquiesced to the desires of the Stuart business community whose members preferred the county-owned parcel at 500 S.E. Flagler Ave. because it lay within easy walking distance of their shops and restaurants.<\/p>\n
He now insists that site became complicated in the fall of 2024 when a new slow-growth majority on the Stuart City Commission voted to withdraw from the interlocal agreement with the county that cooperatively sought grant funding and shared station expenses. The construction price tag, he admits, has skyrocketed from the early $30 million to $40 million estimates.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our colleagues that were part of the decision-making process have changed \u2013 there\u2019s new faces here since that time,\u201d he explained. \u201cI don\u2019t remember agreeing to an $87 million train station. I don\u2019t remember that we were going to take on all the responsibility, but I stayed quiet because we\u2019ve been trying to receive federal grants. The finances have changed, the logistics have changed, the personnel even at Brightline is different now. I think a majority of our residents \u2013 I\u2019m not saying everyone \u2013 would like the concept and convenience of a station.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commissioner also touched on Brightline\u2019s current financial status, which many naysayers believe point to a potential bankruptcy and end of the passenger service itself. Ciampi downplayed that idea, alluding to an expression made common during the recession that certain businesses are too big to fail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey built a massive train system and station in Miami, in Fort Lauderdale, in West Palm, in Aventura, in Boca and at the airport in Orlando. They\u2019ve laid a double track from Miami to Orlando. All of the heavy lifting and hugely expensive work is done. If you\u2019ve done research into Brightline, their ridership [and] their cost per rider is okay. What is sinking the organization is the tremendous weight of the debt of the work they\u2019ve already done. I think reasonable minds will agree, whether it\u2019s Brightline, a company that purchases Brightline or a governmental entity, there\u2019ll be some train system on the East Coast of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Ciampi also alluded to former Stuart Mayor Christopher Collin\u2019s early April letter and response from the Florida East Coast Railroad over parking concerns near the proposed station and the courthouse.<\/p>\n
In the FECR response, an official revealed his opposition to a downtown train station that might interfere with U.S Coast Guard restrictions on the St. Lucie River Bridge closures, which now gives Commissioner Ciampi another powerful reason for changing to the fairgrounds-area location.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst off, my colleagues will have to hopefully agree to at least enter into that conversation,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot jeopardize the future improvements of that bridge, the grant funding or the bridge construction and its work. I can\u2019t support the station in its current location at its current budget and price tag because it is disrupting and destroying our community. If you move it further south to the fairgrounds, that issue comes totally off the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
District 1 Commissioner Eileen Vargas immediately expressed her opposition, citing concerns about potential future reductions in property tax revenue being championed by state legislators.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrightline is in junk bond status if you don\u2019t know,\u201d she said. \u201cThis has been divisive in our community. We should not be discussing Brightline at the moment \u2013 we have other issues that take precedence. There is only so much money to go around: Our taxpayers are squeezed beyond belief, and there should be no smiles from this Commission whatsoever. I don\u2019t think any time should be spent by staff on a losing proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her fellow commissioner comments were more sparse. While District 3 Commissioner Blake Capps had no comment, Chairwoman Sarah Heard expressed her measured support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m certainly amenable to continuing conversations,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have as I recall until June 30, 2027 to back out of the deal. Until then we continue evaluating all the options.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Stacey Hetherington concurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree with continuing those conversations however they may shake out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STUART \u2013 If one Martin County commissioner has his way, both his colleagues and the top brass at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[326,171,173,172],"class_list":["post-308374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-martin","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}