By Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post
ORLANDO — All Aboard Florida plans to market $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds within the month following an unprecedented vote Wednesday night empowering the private company to proceed with its express passenger rail project.
The 3-0 approval by the Florida Development Finance Corp. is a momentous step for the Miami-to-Orlando train, and followed five hours of ardent pleas from supporters and opponents of the rail project. It also followed another watershed breakthrough this week: Tuesday’s release of an environmental impact statement that largely supported All Aboard.
The FDFC is a five-member board, but one seat is vacant and Kevin Hale was absent.
A successful sale of the $1.75 billion in bonds, which will be marketed to accredited investors and institutional buyers at no risk to taxpayers, will mean All Aboard Florida can pay for its $2.5 billion project. It will also be able to pay off $450 million in high-risk bonds it sold last year to begin construction on the Miami-to-West Palm Beach leg.
“We’re obviously very pleased with the outcome of the vote and see it as an affirmation of our project,” said All Aboard Florida President Michael Reininger.
All Aboard Florida plans to run 32 passenger trains per day on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, bisecting historic neighborhoods and high-end communities from Miami to Cocoa. New tracks will be built between Cocoa and Orlando. Trains will stop in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
“This is a net positive economic development for the state,” said FDFC Board Chairman Frank White. “For the counties that feel more of a negative impact, I have given this every consideration I possibly can. I’ve read hundreds of thousands of emails and thousands of pages of material.”
Wednesday’s vote came nearly a year after the first application was made to the FDFC, which will act as conduit issuer of the bonds. All Aboard Florida sought the bonds in lieu of a previously requested Federal Railroad Administration loan.
The vote also followed the quiet release Tuesday afternoon of the Federal Railroad Administration’s final environmental impact statement. The more-than-600-page report found no significant adverse impacts on the communities hugging the tracks if extra safety and sound mitigation efforts are completed.
The report also noted that “with respect to transportation, air quality, and economic resources, the project would have beneficial cumulative impacts.”
The FRA will issue a record of decision within 45 days that provides a concise public record of the impact statement’s findings.
Many speakers at the FDFC meeting disputed the report’s conclusions, expressing concerns about safety at rail crossings, delays to emergency vehicles, costs to local governments for crossing upkeep and general erosion of the quality of life for people living near the tracks.
“The populated areas want the train and the Treasure Coast embraces our quiet way of life,” said Francine Root, a resident of St. Lucie Village. “This will devastate us.”
Indian River County Attorney Dylan Reingold said his board will continue to fight.
“We are not surprised at all by the vote,” Reingold said. “In my mind, the environmental impact statement and the permits still pending are the real issue.”
Melissa Ross traveled on a bus from Miami’s Overtown neighborhood with about 30 supporters of All Aboard Florida. She said the community needs jobs that she believes the project and its $150 million Miami train station will provide.
“We’re looking for work,” Ross said. “We need people to be better able to support their families.”
About 150 people, including 26 elected officials, signed up to speak Wednesday. One bus of 40 people from the Treasure Coast had to leave at 6:30 p.m. They were followed shortly after by the Overtown group, none of whom got to speak.
All Aboard Florida expects 5.4 million annual riders by 2020 paying ticket prices that range from $11 for a one-way ride between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, to $143 for a business-class fare between Miami and Orlando.
By 2030, it projects 7 million riders, with annual revenues of nearly $400 million.
Among the elected officials at Wednesday’s meeting were U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, Sen. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, and West Palm Beach Commissioner Keith James, who support All Aboard Florida.
Rep. MaryLynn Magar, R-Hobe Sound, Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, and Indian River County Commissioner Bob Solari were among 14 elected officials who spoke against the project.
Former American Airlines President Robert Crandall, who lives in Martin County and sits on the Citizens Against Rail Expansion Board of Directors, called All Aboard Florida’s plans a “fairy tale.”
“The business plan offered by All Aboard Florida cannot and will not succeed,” said Crandall. “The only financially responsible thing to do is deny All Aboard Florida the right to issue these bonds.”