Polk County Rail Hub

I find the recent published comments by Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bob Gernert, after learning of the possibility that the planned CSX logistic rail terminal may be required to undergo a development of regional impact review, to be phony and disingenuous. Gernert is quoted as saying that he is optimistic about what the DRI would bring and that the "DRI can't hurt anything. It will review all different components and make it a better project." Where was all of this optimism from the start?

CSX, the chamber and city officials had hoped the project would not be a DRI from the very beginning by trying to purposely plann that it would be under the 320-acre requirement, thereby negating any local review from other agencies when it submitted its application to the Department of Community Affairs.

In the first place, city did a poor job of informing the Winter Haven residents of the project, voting on it without open community input (except from the so-called city big shots). Secondly, they tried to railroad it through the county without all the proper reviews.

This may be a great project for Polk County but it will only be great if the people of Polk County, and not just a few money grabbers who are being enriched by it, support it. The city spent $2,000 on a special-edition newsletter, and the chamber's monthly newsletter and Web site is full of CSX propaganda, so it's obvious that it is getting some money now, before the sale of the property.

"We're here, we value our partnership with the city of Winter Haven, we are committed to being a good neighbor and we're spending money. And anytime we're spending money ... you know we are truly committed." With those words, Cameron Wilson, director of acquisitions and development for CSX summed up his remarks to the business trustees of the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce at its Feb. 21 luncheon.

Thank you, CSX, for spending money on those 20 additional acres.

MACY V. BUTLER

Winter Haven

Letter to the Lakeland Ledger Editor

While officials of Winter Haven and Polk County tout the benefits of CSX, they ask residents of Sundance Ranch Estates in Winter Haven, to pile the unpleasant consequences of living beside this rail yard on their backs and to be happy about it.

Commissioners and others visited the CSX rail yard in Fairburn, Ga. In the words of Michael Herr, Polk County manager, "to study the impact a CSX center has on the rural community of Fairburn."

That study was the proverbial apples-and-oranges comparison. Sundance Ranch Estates, which shares a property line with the new CSX rail yard, and Fairburn are totally, completely and wholly different in the makeup of the communities, topography and lifestyle of the residents.

Before CSX, the proposed site was studied by Winter Haven and found that it should be low-density residential or a business park. Winter Haven's planning policy was that Heavy Industrial II is not compatible with residential.

The Fairburn area was already industrial, few homes, an existing auto junkyard and expansive, dense Georgia forests full of heavy undergrowth and towering trees.

Sundance Ranch Estates is all-residential. To shield us from this enormous, 24-hour operational rail yard, CSX and Winter Haven propose a ridiculously inadequate 15-foot berm.

With straight faces, CSX, city and county officials tell residents of Sundance Ranch Estates there will be little effect on our lifestyle and property value. As they speak, they extend to us a cup of Kool-Aid.

I say: "No thank you. I won't swallow your poison."

SHARON KISER

Winter Haven