Final spring, we advised you about Brightline’s plans for a new cease alongside its Florida rail line — one that will carry a station to the town of Stuart, located on the state’s Treasure Coast some 40 miles north of West Palm Seaside.
Saying the information in early March, Brightline executives joined forces with native leaders in Stuart and surrounding Martin County. The acknowledged objective, on the time? Open the station by the tip of 2026.
Practically eight months after that announcement, these plans appear to be in jeopardy.
Station deal falls aside
In September, a funding deal between Brightline, county and metropolis leaders to develop the brand new station — boosted by taxpayer {dollars} — fell into limbo when a majority of the Stuart Metropolis Fee voted to again out of the association and within the course of revoked Brightline’s lease settlement for the long run cease.
The station deal had confronted opposition from a gaggle of residents and lawmakers in Stuart who voiced specific considerations concerning the burden the funding setup would place on native residents; one metropolis commissioner advised native outlet TCPalm final month he wasn’t towards the station itself, however noticed the present deal as unfair to taxpayers.
Nonetheless, the transfer has ignited a wave of native political maneuvers and, in the end, reignited hypothesis over the place Brightline’s subsequent Florida station would possibly in the end be positioned.
Brightline responds
In a press release to TPG shortly after Stuart’s change of coronary heart, a Brightline spokesperson stated the corporate was assured the latest actions of native leaders “do not replicate the needs of the vast majority of enterprise homeowners and residents who’ve supported Brightline’s efforts” to carry a station to the world.
The corporate additionally appeared to open the door to contemplating options for its subsequent Florida station — one that will be located someplace alongside the 170-mile stretch of observe it opened final 12 months between South Florida and the terminals at Orlando Worldwide Airport (MCO).
“We’ll work with all cities and counties within the Treasure Coast to find out the subsequent steps for a Brightline station,” the corporate advised TPG in late September.
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Might Fort Pierce be subsequent?
Brightline hasn’t but introduced any official change of plans.
But it surely did not take lengthy for close by cities to renew efforts to woo the rail operator.
“Fort Pierce is the plain geographic location for a Treasure Coast station,” that metropolis’s mayor, Linda Hudson advised TPG in latest weeks, noting that leaders there would “welcome the chance” so as to add a Brightline station — whether or not the Stuart one strikes ahead or not — pending a “thorough look” into the rail operator’s monetary well being.
“Once we are certain that the Stuart/Martin County settlement with Brightline is now not in impact, I’m occupied with opening a dialogue with Brightline to decide on the most effective Fort Pierce location,” Hudson advised TPG.
It is price noting that earlier than zeroing in on Stuart, Brightline had thought-about a number of areas within the area, together with in close by St. Lucie County, which incorporates Fort Pierce.
Do not depend Martin County (or Stuart) out simply but
Then once more, the Stuart station won’t be useless — at the least, not but.
This month, leaders have revived talks of a Brightline station close to (or even perhaps at) its beforehand deliberate Stuart location. It will get fairly sophisticated relating to infrastructure initiatives.
Stuart metropolis leaders have opened the door to contemplating a revised station deal, the town supervisor tells TPG. In the meantime, on Tuesday, commissioners in Martin County, which surrounds and encompasses Stuart, voted to maneuver ahead on station talks with (or with out) the town’s buy-in, a spokesperson confirmed — together with a possible alternate spot on the county-owned fairgrounds, south of Stuart.
It is price noting that Brightline trains already rumble by the hall each day; at concern is whether or not (or, extra precisely, the place) so as to add a cease alongside these tracks.
The place would possibly that station in the end find yourself? That continues to be to be seen.
Both means, Brightline has far bigger plans within the works. The corporate hopes to finally broaden past Orlando to Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Development can be now underway on a high-speed Brightline West system that’s poised to attach Las Vegas with Southern California by the point the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics start.
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