Takeway line from Tom Palmer’s story: “We want to evaluate the impacts along State Road 60 and beyond State Road 60 as well,” County Manager Mike Herr said. “We don’t know what it will do to the transportation network.”
That’s quite an admission. But the truly important aspect of the story came right at the end. An official with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council said it is still possible for local officials to trigger what’s called the “development of regional impact” process, which is used to help plan large, intense projects. CSX and the city of Winter Haven have avoided that process, which often takes years, by splitting the project in two, so that the key first phase falls below the DRI threshold for acreage. The state signed off on that decision. -- Polk County News Blog
