Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/105484
Sarasota News Leader January 25, 2013 Consultant Michael English with Tindale-Oliver & Associates of Tampa laid out the basics. A fixed route can be run either by "rubber-tired vehicles" or a rail-mounted streetcar. The rubber-tire option — a bus or trolley — is vastly cheaper to install and slightly cheaper to operate. But because it is considered impermanent, it attracts far less development. Page 30 HYBRID ALIGNMENTS AND OVERLAYS Another trendy topic in urban planning is called "transit oriented development," which argues that people find it desirable to live near mass transit. The "transit-shed" is figured to be 500 to 1,000 feet from the streetcar terminal. How much cheaper are the "rubber tire ver- Shaw offered an idea different from the one sions"? posed by the Tindale-Oliver consultants and English said Fort Lauderdale's 3.5-mile street- drew a boundary 500 feet from its central car system is costing $150 million, or a bit less point. His "transit-shed" covered downtown than $50 million per mile. By contrast, a ded- and the Rosemary District east to Payne Park. icated bus route serving the same area would He said it could touch seven different city cost $1.4 million, including vehicles and sta- neighborhoods, plus the prime but undeveltions. oped land of the Quay and Proscenium propIn addition to the capital costs, streetcars are erties to the west. To the east, it would cover more expensive to operate. Consultant Evan the School Avenue and the Ringling Publix Johnson said a rubber-tired bus system costs property. He called it a hybrid alignment. about $68 per hour, while a streetcar takes "It would be a 2.3 mile corridor with rails on about $156 per hour to run. a rubber bed," said Shaw. "It would be $4 mil"Economic development follows permanent lion per mile for track, about $1 million for the streetcars," said consultant Michael Chin. car barn and $1 million for each of the three "We've seen it in city after city." He cited Portland, OR's $148 million system. "It has gener- cars. The total would be $20 million or less." ated billions in downtown development," he Shaw's suggested plan includes battery-powsaid. ered streetcars, so there would be no requireMuch of the start-up money, perhaps 80 per- ment for overhead catenary connections for cent of it, could come from sources other than power. "And there could also be a possible local property taxes. English said the Federal offset by using solar power to charge the batTransit Administration, the State of Florida, teries," he said. an available sales tax increase (with voter approval) and special assessments such as the Shaw provided a chart prepared by former one levied by the Downtown Improvement Sarasota County planning guru Peter Katz. It District can all be used. showed the property tax potential of one acre "If you want it, you have to figure out how to of land. If that parcel is filled with single-fampay for it," said English. Operating costs, he ily residences, the acre produces $8,211 in added, are usually borne by farebox proceeds property tax. If the acre is the site of a big-box store like a Walmart, it is worth $8,374. and local government budgets.