UPDATE – All Aboard Florida’s public relations agency, Fort Lauderdale-based Finn Partners released the following statement Tuesday afternoon in response to both Indian River and Martin county leaders voting to fund huge legal war chests to fight the high-speed rail project.
“By their actions today, the Indian River and Martin County commissions have decided upon a negative course of action regarding their engagement with All Aboard Florida. The company is hopeful that a more positive and productive forum can be found. We remain open to exploring a future station to serve communities in the Treasure Coast, and bring the direct economic benefits of this important new transportation system to area residents and visitors.
“A good example of a positive dialogue can be found just up the coast. Brevard County has recently undertaken a productive process that could lead to its securing a future station.” – Lynn Martenstein, VP of Corporate Communications, All Aboard Florida.
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Board of County Commissioners Tuesday voted unanimously to set aside $2.7 million over a three-year period to fund legal and technical consulting fees related to the County’s efforts to stop the All Aboard Florida high-speed rail project.
The Board also voted to bring back a resolution expressing the County’s opposition to All Aboard Florida being able to issue bonds to fund the project.
Commissioner Bob Solari made the two motions, saying that $2.7 million represents roughly one percent of the County’s general fund budget. Solari made the motion that $500,000 be allocated this fiscal year ending Sept. 30, plus $1.1 million in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 fiscal years.
He said the issue is well worth the potential cost. Solari said efforts so far have significantly delayed the project and changed the way the project would be funded, instead of via federally insured loans, All Aboard Florida is now applying to issue private activity bonds.
But Solari said Indian River County cannot do it alone, and that he’s hopeful officials in other counties “will do the right thing.”
“We need the governments of St. Lucie County (to) do all they can,” Solari said.
In addition, he praised the grassroots efforts that have sprung up along Florida’s coast to fight the project. There are plenty of ways for groups to help and plenty of ways for citizens can make their voices heard,” he said.
Commissioner Peter O’Bryan offered a second to both the motions.
“I am not opposed to commuter rail. I am opposed to this project due to the high-speed nature of it coming through our community,” O’Bryan said.
O’Bryan added that when it comes to the tragic loss of life in crashes with the trains, “it’s not a question of if, but when.”
“It’s almost unthinkable that 32 trains a day would be coming through our community at 110 mph,” O’Bryan said.
Dozens of speakers rose to comment about the project, with only one man speaking in favor of the train, saying that Indian River County should work with All Aboard Florida to support the project and to get a stop in Vero Beach.
Developer Joe Palladin said he attended a meeting in Malabar in the early stages of the project and All Aboard Florida staffers told the public they were not there to ask permission, but just to inform them, that the project was a “done deal,” because they already owned the right of way. That attitude, he said, struck him the wrong way.
“It’s not going to do anything positive for us,” Palladin said. “We’ve haven’t been given all the information, and the information we did get has been flawed.”
County Attorney Dylan Reingold said the County has been working with some experts to examine its options, but with this appropriation, it will be able to hire an attorney to bring the Board back some strategies to file suit to stop the project. Some of the meetings regarding what the County can and may do in court would be legal “shade” meetings, as exempt under Florida’s Sunshine laws.