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11/18/2014 (7)
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11/18/2014 (7)
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Meetings
Meeting Type
BCC Regular Meeting
Document Type
Agenda Packet
Meeting Date
11/18/2014
Meeting Body
Board of County Commissioners
Book and Page
410
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another major initiative that is likely to have significant impacts along 85 miles of the FECR <br />corridor. Under that project, 25 or more commuter round trips will be added to the very same tracks <br />to be used for the Proposed Project. Those additional trains will serve 25,000 passengers each day, <br />at 20-25 new stations. The DEIS specifically excludes this important project and its overlapping <br />impacts from the environmental analysis, stating that it is in the "preliminary planning stage." DEIS <br />at 5-163. Attempting to justify this characterization, the document goes on to state that the "[t]he <br />Tri -Rail Coastal Link Study is being undertaken by FDOT, and is evaluating the use of the FECR <br />Corridor for the Tri -Rail service, which currently operates on the CSX -controlled railroad <br />right-of-way west of the FECR Corridor." Id. One would gather from these statements that the Tri - <br />Rail project is in the very early stages of planning, and that the information required for a cumulative <br />impacts analysis of such a speculative project is not available. But that characterization is wholly <br />inaccurate. An example of the degree to which the Tri -Rail Coastal Link Project has advanced is the <br />Letter Agreement dated April 25, 2014, between AAF and South Florida Regional Transportation <br />Authority ("SFRTA"), the sponsor of Tri -Rail Coastal Link Project, which provides the details for <br />the shared use of the rail corridor between the two entities for the provision of high speed and <br />commuter rail. See-,vw-,v.ircgov.com/Public_Notices/Rail/Tri-Rail-Non-Compete.pdf. <br />In addition, substantial Federal and State resources have been expended in the planning and <br />environmental review of the Tri -Rail Coastal Link project, and there is no informational impediment <br />to a cumulative environmental review. In particular, many studies have already been completed for <br />the Tri -Rail Coastal Link Project, including a Final Conceptual Alternatives Analysis and Environmental <br />Screening Study running for 387 pages issued in 2009; a 189 page Detailed Environmental Screening Report <br />issued in 2010; and a 168 page Final Alternatives Analysis Deport issued in 2011. Thus, detailed <br />information has been compiled with respect to that project, its alternatives and environmental <br />impacts as a result of years of exacting analysis. Moreover, a final Preliminary Project Development Report <br />for the Tri -Rail Coastal Link was submitted to FRA's sister agency, the Federal Transit <br />Administration ("FTA"), in April 2014. Clearly, a project to which such an intense, federally <br />supported planning effort has been devoted is "reasonably foreseeable" within the meaning of <br />NEPA. In fact, the website for the Tri -Rail Coastal Link project (http://tri- <br />railcoastallink.com/frequendy_asked_questions.html) states that its sponsors have "closely <br />collaborated" with the AAF team, and puts the estimated timeframe for completion of the Tri -Rail <br />Coastal Link project within the same timeframe that would reasonably be expected for the Proposed <br />Project, if it advances. It is also notable that RAF's June 4, 2014 "Preliminary Offering <br />Memorandum" indicates that use of the FECR corridor by Tri -Rail Coastal Link may cause delays to <br />construction of the Proposed Project, and lead to operational and safety risks that require careful <br />study in a cumulative environmental review. <br />It is well settled that when several proposals for related actions that will have cumulative or <br />synergistic environmental impacts upon a region are pending concurrently before an agency, their <br />environmental consequences must be considered together. The Tri -Rail Coastal Link project and <br />the Proposed Project are both pending before USDOT agencies, and the Proposed Project has been <br />specifically identified as being related to the Tri -Rail Coastal Link Project. See Tri -Rail Coastal Link's <br />30 1 - Pi — Page 7 November 14, 2014 <br />1824679 <br />
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