Transportation officials will decide Monday whether to ask for federal money to build a proposed $1.5-billion, 38-mile monorail system.
By MICHAEL SANDLER
Published July 27, 2003
CLEARWATER - On Monday afternoon, a few hours before commuters curse the brake lights on their way home, a decision is expected that may forever change the way people get around Pinellas County.
Those tired of the traffic along U.S. 19 and Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard might want to stop by the courthouse, where the county's transportation planning board is expected to endorse plans for Pinellas' first monorail system.
But don't trade in your car just yet.
The railway would cost more than a billion dollars. Consultants say the public would likely need to pay at least half that through a special tax, which would require at least one referendum, maybe more.
County and city officials serving on the Metropolitan Planning Organization's board say the financing will not be resolved Monday.
Instead, the 11-member panel will decide if they want to join more than a hundred cities across the country seeking federal money for mass transit projects.
"Do we go to a referendum and ask for it? Or is there a way to pay for it without going to a referendum?" said county Commissioner John Morroni. "I think some of the members see a referendum as the death knell."
That very question has some on the board convinced that this moment is crucial in the decades-old effort to bring rail to Pinellas.
"If this dies on the vine this time, I have every belief that the idea is probably dead for a generation," said St. Petersburg council member Jay Lasita.
Even if Pinellas secured the federal grant, the county would need to come up with at least half the $1.5-billion currently estimated to build the transportation system, said Grimail Crawford, the Tampa consultant hired to draft a 77-page proposal aimed at securing the federal money.
Officials say they will seek public input in the ensuing months.
Morroni said people who live in Florida's most densely populated county can no longer ignore the obvious.
"People have to start thinking about the future," Morroni said. "We have to get people out of their cars."
The 38-mile monorail could carry 50,000 people a day from Clearwater Beach to downtown St. Petersburg.
But that wouldn't be all.
The monorail would be the centerpiece of an ambitious network, one with trolleys and express buses connecting the entire county.
This is hardly a new idea. Plans have been discussed as far back as the 1980s. Money has long kept the idea confined to the minds of consultants, along with a few maverick elected officials.
But with roadways jammed and limited vacant land available for development, officials say the time is right to make this happen.
Four elected officials have already endorsed the plan.
Morroni, Lasita, Clearwater city Commissioner Whitney Gray and Dunedin Mayor John Doglione will recommend it to the other seven members of the MPO on Monday.
"Most of the questions come down to money," Lasita said. "We are still in the infancy, crawling before we walk. But we are trying to keep it alive."
For any hope of success, the plans will require a major sales pitch to the public next year. Officials say that will include focus groups, surveys and possibly two referendums - one for the idea and another for a 1-cent transit sales surtax.
Other options for local financing include extending the Penny for Pinellas or enacting two new local gas taxes.
"People that I talk to are almost entirely in favor of the concept," Gray said.
"It's when you start talking about how to pay for it you see varying degrees (of support). There's an element of sticker shock. You have to balance it with our traffic concerns. As they grow and grow, what alternatives do we have? We are simply running out of places to build roads."
Not everyone is convinced.
First, Pinellas would be competing with at least 100 cities for part of the same pot of federal money.
There's also the question of finding the land. The train would require 70 acres for tracks and 4,475 parking spaces, according to the study. That's not an easy task considering the county already struggles with limited vacant land.
Another concern is the momentum building across Florida to repeal a proposed bullet train that would connect St. Petersburg, Tampa and Orlando.
Some just don't see people using a light rail system, particularly without a true urban center drawing riders. Consultants already anticipate needing a subsidy to help cover the $25- to $40-million a year in operating expenses.
"I'm not convinced the ridership is there, nor will it be," said county Commissioner Susan Latvala. "Where are these big pockets of riders who live in one place? We don't seem to have it."
Mike Crawford, an engineer with the Tampa consulting firm hired to prepare the grant proposal, said few cities have that traditional metropolitan center that people have in mind when they think of railways.
But he cited an emerging trend in areas with densely populated suburbs building light rail.
His study found at least 100,000 jobs along the 28-station route proposed for Pinellas. It would also stop at Clearwater Beach, the Countryside Mall, St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and downtown St. Petersburg.
As for the money, the federal government already provided more than $2-million for the study, and Crawford said Pinellas could look at what other cities have done.
A private group in Las Vegas paid for a 5-mile monorail that passes by the casinos.
On three occasions, voters in Seattle supported a referendum initiated by a man stuck in traffic. They are now paying $1.5-billion to build a 15-mile monorail in the city.
Local supporters are hoping area businesses come forward and donate land.
But many agree the time has come to move past the conceptual phase.
"There are legitimate questions out there," Lasita said. "Quite honestly, some of the old hands are skeptical that it can go forward. We've heard a couple folks say, "No more consultants!' It either goes forward, or it doesn't."
