Evansville Western Railroad Completes Haven Land Purchase

Posted by Bob Gernert on September 28, 2007 at 8:52 am

CSX Corporation announced today (September 28, 2007) that the purchase of 318 acres from the City of Winter Haven for a state-of-the-art, rail intermodal and automotive terminal has been completed.

The land was purchased by Evansville Western Railway, Inc., a CSX affiliate company.

The land purchase and construction of the terminal are essential steps in the relocation of rail freight traffic to accommodate commuter rail operations in a four-county area from Deland to Poinciana. Commuter rail is the basis for a pending agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation.

A Development of Regional Impact (DRI) review will be conducted to evaluate the effects of the terminal on the region. The company will work with the state and Polk County to address any concerns identified by the process.

Winter Haven City Manager, David Greene, confirmed that documents have been signed and the $6,998,200 purchase has been completed. Asked about the sale Greene noted, “It’s really exciting. It’s the most significant economic development opportunity to date and it’s going to happen in Winter Haven.”

The DRI process will begin in mid-October.

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REMARKS   7 Total remarks on this post. Add your own remarks below

  • October 8th, 2007 at 7:08 am
    George Larson

    The building of the CSX facility is the biggest mistake Winter Haven has ever made.
    It will make the City unfit to live in due to the noise and increased rail traffic.
    Geo

  • October 8th, 2007 at 7:54 am
    Bob Gernert

    Mr. Larson,

    There will be two more trains traveling adjacent to Winter Haven on a daily basis. The intermodal terminal will be buffered from its surroundings and preliminary decibel projections do not support your noise conclusion.

    Traffic to and from the terminal will be via Highway 60 which is south of Winter Haven. The DRI process will address many of these issues. While the project will not be without its challenges, we believe that properly planned its economic potential will far exceed those challenges.

  • October 9th, 2007 at 8:22 am
    Joe Kenny

    Mr. Gernert,

    There’s been a lot of talk going around on both sides of this project. But we have yet to see any thing put out to the public from Winter Haven or CSX officially on the design of the facility. You mentioned the terminal buffering. Do you have any specific designs and plans that you are privy to? Or is this just a generalization?

  • October 9th, 2007 at 8:54 am
    Bob Gernert

    Mr. Kenny,

    I do not have specific designs at this point. CSX presented examples of such buffering earlier this year but they were conceptual in nature. The formal DRI process will begin in mid-October and I believe that terminal design and buffering will be inherent in that process. When we receive specifics we will present them on this blog.

  • October 10th, 2007 at 5:30 am
    JC

    I am happy to see this is moving along. I have lived here all of my 60 years and truly believe this will help our area, not hurt it. Even the trains that use to come through the center of town through the middle of the park were OK with me.

  • October 10th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
    Scott Thompson

    Mr. Gernert, There have been some recent comments made by CSX officials and/or associates of a somewhat disturbing nature that I’m wondering if you can shed some light on. 1)The majority of the approximate 2-300 jobs for the first phase ILC will be filled by non-residents transferred in from existing facilities. 2)They have estimated that phase II, where the majority of the peripheral jobs, economic growth,and tax revenue is to come from,will not start to come into play until the year 2020. If the Dockery study is even close to correct, at a minimum with this far off date,the county will have a multi-million dollar deficit before any tax revenue(if any) will start to come in. With still no clear answer as to how phase I will be taxed, this leaves question as to where the city will be with this. Do you have any insight into these issues?

  • October 10th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
    Bob Gernert

    Scott,

    I am not aware of any CSX projection for Phase II to come on line in 2020. From the beginning the projection has been for a 10 year build out with initial construction beginning soon after the intermodal center is completed.

    Phase II may or may not be built by CSX. There are companies that specialize in planning and building the integrated logistic centers. It seems reasonable to expect that some companies whose consumer goods or automobiles will be transported in to the intermodal center will want to build warehousing or industrial complexes nearby and there is no reason that they would wait until 2020.

    The Dockery study has not been validated. Other respected research organizations have come to very different conclusions.

    I will, however, doublecheck your concerns and if any of the original estimates have changed substantially, I will recontact you.

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