Jun. 7--LAKELAND -- The massive CSX Transportation rail hub and distribution center planned for Winter Haven, which the state calls "the mother of all rail yards," may not be delayed after all.

A week after the state's top planning agency seemed to slow the project's fast-track approval process by saying it would likely need a full regional review, the same agency now says it's willing to make a deal with CSX: The company can build the project's vital shipping container transfer hub at the same time that the entire 1,250-acre center undergoes the regional review.

The hub is the backbone of a half-billion-dollar deal put together last year by then-Gov. Jeb Bush's administration that would reorganize freight rail traffic throughout the state and bring commuter rail to the Orlando area.

CSX spokesman Gary Sease has said that the Winter Haven facility is "a necessary part of the overall plan."

Port Of Tampa Interested

The Port of Tampa also has expressed interest in tapping the hub and the burgeoning Central Florida distribution industry.

Advocates of the proposed Heartland Parkway have cited the CSX hub as one reason to build the highway, which would tie into the new facility.

Jacksonville-based CSX calls the project an "integrated logistics center," a statewide rail-to-truck distribution center unlike anything in the Southeast. It would handle vehicles and shipping containers routed primarily from the nation's West Coast ports.

At the Winter Haven hub, the containers would be transferred from trains to hundreds of waiting trucks. CSX has projected that the hub will produce up to 1,150 trips a day on State Road 60. That's before the inclusion of the surrounding distribution center, which covers a much larger area than the train hub.

CSX and other project backers in Winter Haven say it may employ up to 2,000 people.

CSX says the project has the potential to take cars and trucks off highways, both through the Orlando commuter rail deal and generally through providing more freight transport via rail. It acknowledges those benefits will come outside Polk, which is not included in the Orlando passenger rail line and will see significant truck and train traffic increases. Much, if not all, of that new train traffic will run through downtown Lakeland.

Local Governments Concerned

In recent weeks, a number of local governments in Polk County have expressed concern about the effect of the project and especially its fast-track approval. It was thought that last week's state decision would force a full review before any building on the Winter Haven site occurred.

However, in a letter made public Wednesday on the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce's Web site, the state's Department of Community Affairs informed CSX that it's open to a deal that "would allow CSX to construct a substantial portion of the overall project prior to the issuance of a Development of Regional Impact Order. If you wish to proceed toward such an agreement we believe it could be completed fairly quickly."

It's unclear what such an agreement would entail, exactly, or what "fairly quickly" means. Sease said Wednesday afternoon that his company looks forward to meeting with the department to flesh out the details of the agreement in the hope of pursuing that option.

No comment from the department was available Wednesday.

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.

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