Progress report scheduled on FEC rail passenger study

By Chuck McGinness
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, February 07, 2006

It's going to be at least six years before Tri-Rail pulls into northern Palm Beach County, but it's not too soon to plan development around future stations.

The county's Metropolitan Planning Organization and Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council are helping several cities, including Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter and Riviera Beach, create transit villages where people live, work and play.

The Palm Beach Gardens station would be part of a 30-acre development, called RCA Center, at the southwest corner of PGA Boulevard and Alternate A1A. The planning council has been working with the city and developer Catalfumo Construction to mold a mixed-use project around a train station.

Plans are being tweaked to set up a more-defined street network with walkways so the project is pedestrian-friendly, said Kim Delaney, the council's growth management coordinator. The village may be linked to the old Loehmann's Plaza site, which is being redeveloped, and a larger tract just north of PGA Boulevard, also owned by Catalfumo, which could house biotech companies if The Scripps Research Institute were built nearby.

"Pedestrian accessibility is the key," Delaney said.

During a review of the program last week, members of the MPO's technical advisory committee — mainly engineers and planners — cautioned not to overlook the additional traffic that transit developments generate.

Trains and buses cannot serve all of the needs of the residents in the village. And other commuters who use Tri-Rail will hop in their cars to get to the station.

Developing transit villages to relieve highway congestion does little good if the streets around the station are gridlocked, said Brian Collins, West Palm Beach's traffic engineer.

"People are still going to drive," said Dan Weisberg, the county's traffic engineer.

The regional planning council has been involved with a 36-acre transit-oriented development planned at the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail station that includes 2,500 homes, shops, parking garages and new offices for the county's health department, the Health Care District and the American Red Cross. The group also is helping Lake Worth with a proposal to develop housing near its Tri-Rail station.

"We've still got a lot of work to do," Delaney said.

The expansion of mass transportation in north county and throughout South Florida will become a lot clearer after the state completes a study on how the Florida East Coast Railway corridor can best be used in the region's transit system. Commuter rail service north of West Palm Beach cannot happen without the FEC's cooperation.

During the first phase of the study, which should be completed in the spring of 2007, consultants will survey transit riders and consider alternatives, including express buses, trolleys and streetcars, commuter rail and a heavy rail system such as Miami's Metrorail.

The second phase will look at possible routes. The results will be sent to the Federal Transit Administration by 2010 with a request for grants to make the improvements.