The Florida Senate

332.115  Joint project agreement with port district for transportation corridor between airport and port facility.--

(1)  An eligible agency may acquire, construct, and operate all equipment, appurtenances, and land necessary to establish, maintain, and operate, or to license others to establish, maintain, operate, or use, a transportation corridor connecting an airport operated by such eligible agency with a port facility, which corridor must be acquired, constructed, and used for the transportation of persons between the airport and the port facility, for the transportation of cargo, and for the location and operation of lines for the transmission of water, electricity, communications, information, petroleum products, products of a public utility (including new technologies of a public utility nature), and materials. However, any such corridor may be established and operated only pursuant to a joint project agreement between an eligible agency as defined in s. 332.004 and a port district as defined in s. 315.02, and such agreement must be approved by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Community Affairs. Before the Department of Transportation approves the joint project agreement, that department must review the public purpose and necessity for the corridor pursuant to s. 337.273(5) and must also determine that the proposed corridor is consistent with the Florida Transportation Plan. Before the Department of Community Affairs approves the joint project agreement, that department must determine that the proposed corridor is consistent with the applicable local government comprehensive plans. An affected local government may provide its comments regarding the consistency of the proposed corridor with its comprehensive plan to the Department of Community Affairs.

(2)  Prior to developing a new corridor, the eligible agency, in determining the most feasible corridor, shall give first consideration to existing and available corridors in the public domain.

(3)  A transportation corridor established pursuant to this section shall not be considered an aviation project for purposes of state funding, but shall be considered an aviation project for all other purposes.

(4)  Sections 341.321-341.386 shall apply to any high-speed rail line used to transport persons or cargo through a corridor established under this section, provided that such sections shall not apply to a high-speed rail line used to transport persons or cargo through a corridor contained entirely within Brevard and Orange Counties. However, with respect to any such corridor contained entirely within Brevard and Orange Counties, the corridor alignment selected by an eligible agency for final design and implementation, including rail lines, passenger and cargo rail terminals, pipelines, and other components included in such corridor, must comply with the joint project agreement approved by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Community Affairs under subsection (1). Additionally, such joint project agreement must specify the agency responsible for the operation of the corridor. Before approving the joint project agreement as required in subsection (1), and in addition to the requirements thereof, the Department of Transportation must determine that such corridor is compatible with any existing or proposed high-speed rail technology. Before the Department of Community Affairs approves the joint project agreement, that department must determine that the proposed corridor is consistent with the applicable approved local government comprehensive plans and the state comprehensive plan. Each affected local government shall provide its comments regarding the consistency of such Brevard-Orange corridor with its comprehensive plan to the Department of Community Affairs and the appropriate regional planning council. After approval of the joint project agreement for the Brevard-Orange corridor, such corridor project shall be a development of regional impact and shall be subject to development-of-regional-impact review under s. 380.06. Any change to such Brevard-Orange corridor project's plan of development, including alignments of the corridor, rail terminal locations, pipelines, roadways, or any other development outside the corridor that is proposed by an eligible agency subsequent to issuance of the original development order under s. 380.06 is a substantial deviation for purposes of s. 380.06(19). Passenger rail terminals within such Brevard-Orange corridor may be located only at the port facility and the airport. Any such Brevard-Orange corridor, having been installed between the port facility and the airport affected, may not be used for the transmission of coal slurry.

History.--s. 121, ch. 90-136; s. 29, ch. 90-227; s. 5, ch. 91-142.