Zelda Ladan, our second VP and chair of the Transportation Committee, recently submitted the final draft of LWV Seminole’s transportation study. As she wrote to state LWV officials:
Based on our review of the county’s growth, land use goals, current status and future needs, we concluded mass transit was a missing link in our infrastructure. Fortunately this issue has been taken up on a regional basis, and extensive groundwork had been laid by local officials, cities, counties and organizations. The resulting proposal for a regional commuter train worked its way through a labyrinth of meetings and challenges, and finally came to fruition as SunRail when Governor Scott approved its funding last fall.
LWV Seminole has thrown its support behind SunRail, which broke ground at the end of January and will be built over the next several years. Once implemented and connected to feeder routes and other support systems, SunRail promises to ease highway traffic and provide low-cost transportation to a wide range of users, delivering them to work and play; to local including industries, educational facilities and venues.
Our transportation committee anticipated following news about SunRail’s development, its successes and challenges. Links to web sites about the project appear at the end of the report. Please let me know if there are questions about the study.
Here is the text of the committee’s final report:
LWVS Transportation Committee spent the fall of 2010 interviewing the local players responsible for conceptualizing, designing, and implementing transportation projects in Central Florida, and Seminole County, in particular.
The initial questions were, “Who decides what transportation projects are undertaken inSeminoleCounty?” and “How are roads and transportation projects funded?” Many of our members were concerned about additional taxes being needed to fund transportation projects, as well as the effect of these projects on our environment. We wanted to know how we might influence transportation decisions.
Beginning with a meeting with the county engineer, the committee learned the difference between funds available for capital projects (new roads) and highway maintenance, and the way taxes are levied to create these funds. Also discussed were the volume of traffic the transportation system was designed for and current ridership; how decisions are made to redesign or repair current streets and highways, and which governmental bodies have a say in each of these aspects of transportation. Additional meetings were held with the Seminole County Growth Management office and the Fiscal office.
According to the Seminole County officials with whom we met, Seminole County roads have technically already been built out to capacity, in that the comprehensive plan does not include plans for additional roads, including the undeveloped east side, which has been set aside for conservation. On the other hand, Seminole county repair decisions are handled between the county engineer’s office and the county commission. The need for repair might be determined by the county engineer’s office, might be requested by citizens, or might be a part of the county’s comprehensive plan, which is devised to extend 10 years in to the future. In those cases when the road crosses city boundaries or enters another county, the respective governments and commissions make agreements as to how to split the cost and work equitably.
A meeting was held with the leadership of MetroPlan Orlando. This regional transportation planning commission, begun in 1977, includes representatives from Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, their cities and towns; and works within guidelines of both FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) and DOT (USA) to address regional transportation needs and development within the tri-county region, as well as developing cooperative plans with neighboring regional transportation planning boards. We also met with Sun Rail Project Manager, Todd S. Hammerle, and representatives from FTA-(Federal Transit Administration) and FDOT to gain a better understanding of the state mass transportation plans and how they would be funded.
The short answer to our questions were that local road projects were divided into two categories, new highway / transportation projects (capital investments), and maintenance projects. Funding of each of these depends on whether the project is county, city or state owned, although a fair amount of cooperation exists and trade offs are not uncommon. Sales taxes, impact fees and local option gas taxes pay for major new construction. Prior years gas tax and impact fees pay for repairs, and although cities share some roadways with the county, the county funds most road repairs with occasional help from federal grants.
The federal government offers incentives as well as manages the national comprehensive transportation plan, so large capital projects, regardless of whether they are local, county or state owned, must follow federal guidelines and meet federal requirements. These projects also often depend on federal funding or matching funds. As a result, a county government cannot, in and of itself, decide to build a highway without going through the state and federal permitting process.
Mass transit has its own set of rules and requirements, beginning with federal and state oversight. Construction funding comes from multiple sources, including federal, state, county and municipal taxes and grants. Fortunately forSeminoleCountyresidents, our county government has set aside transportation funds and therefore is in the enviable position of being able to fund our portion of mass transit without increasing debt or taxes.
As a result of these meetings the committee selected regional public transportation as a focus, and made mass transit the basis for a Transportation Forum held at Seminole State College on February 14, 2011. MetroPlan Executive Director, Harold (Harry) Barley, and Lynx CEO, John M. Lewis, Jr. spoke onCentral Florida’s mass transit plans, and answered questions on both the SunRail project and Lynx bus services, and how they will facilitate future mass transit needs. Funding and operating cost projections were discussed, i.e.; each county and city must fund a portion of the project, although the first seven years of operations will be paid for with a grant from the federal government. SeminoleCountyalready has the funds it needs to build the portion transversing the county, as previously noted. Other counties and municipalities have at least a portion of the needed funding for their sections, and they are working to close the gap.
Following our forum, the transportation committee monitored the legislative and state positions on mass transit projects planned for our area, writing letters and making calls to our legislators and Governor Scott, encouraging them to keep mass transit funding in the budget. Fortunately, after an extended review, the governor released funding for SunRail, allowing the project to go forward.
In August 2011 LWVS hosted a Transportation Hot Topics. Invited were the mayors of those towns through which SunRail would pass, Sanford, Lake Mary, Longwood, and Altamonte Springs; a representative from the SC Commission, and Marieanne Gurney, public liaison to FDOT. The FDOT presentation focused on the rail line and the timeline. The mayors each spoke to the individual station designs and amenities included, how each city would integrate the station into it’s current traffic and transit scheme, anticipated economic benefits and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) surrounding each station.
Our members and those who have attended our two transportation programs are hopeful SunRail will ultimately prove to be a success, both fiscally and socially, however there are still a few nagging questions which we cannot ignore. Although funding for SunRail comes from the federal government for the first 7 years, will ridership materialize to the point it will carry the project forward following the end of the federal grant? Will TOD grow sufficiently to augment ridership revenues? Will feeder routes and support systems be developed quickly to assure riders are encouraged to use the system, thereby making it a financial success? Will development around the stations concentrate housing and services along the rail lines, thereby creating the needed core of any major transit project?
Going forward, LWVS is committed to asking these questions, bringing the community together to discuss the progress of the project, and supporting SunRail. We are also committed to assuring our environment maintains high priority, and as our comprehensive plan changes from decade to decade, we do not lose focus on why we live in Seminole County.
TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Sara McClendon, Chair 2010
Mercedes Bermejo
Zelda Ladan, Chair 2011
Olivia Simmons
Pat Southward
Alda Rowe Pierce
Heather Torre
Mike Barr
Belinda Morgan Sterling
Tom Lane
Michelle Thatcher
Patricia Graves
Win Adams
Resources:
METROPLAN ORLANDO: metroplanorlando.com
SEMINOLE CO. ENGINEERING: seminolecountyfl.gov/pw/eng/index.aspx
seminolecountyfl.gov/pw/roadstorm/index.aspx