STUART, Fla. — People are organizing to support the proposed Brightline station in Stuart, even though city commissioners approved a lease for the project almost a month ago.
Stuart's City Commission voted to revisit the lease agreement at their last meeting in August. It was the first meeting for two newly elected commissioners, Laura Giobbi and Sean Reed, who ran successfully for election on platforms to limit growth and development.
Christopher Vitale's family owns the Old Colorado Inn and other buildings in Stuart. He said he supports the train station because it would help tourism-related industries.
"We have a lot of people who walk around already," Vitale said. "But, if we had this train station it would be awesome for more people from places who haven’t heard of Stuart to come in [and] walk around our quaint little town."
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Vitale said supporters like himself were surprised the City Commission could try to stop Brightline's station in Stuart based on the election results.
"I just don’t think we knew it would really be an issue until a few days ago that it came out that there was a major shift in what was already an agreed-upon deal," Vitale said.
LOCAL ELECTIONS
With about 3,000 votes cast in a town with a population of about 18,000 people, Giobbi and Reed won election to Stuart's City Commission, deafeating Troy McDonald and Mayor Beckie Bruner, who both helped Stuart win the right to build a Brightline station.
WPTV has been following the mixed sentiments for a train station in Stuart. Some people thought the decision would help local businesses while others thought it would make the town too big.
People also argued the public should benefit from a train, which makes noise while moving through Stuart multiple times a day. Other people argue the train station costs too much money from taxpayers.
Groups in Martin County, like Save Our Salerno and Stewards Advocating for a Viable Environment (SAVE) Martin County, amplified those messages against the Brightline Station in Martin County while asking followers to stay engaged.
Christopher Vitale and others have been rallying their voices using the Facebook group "Support Stuart Brightline Station," which has almost 500 members after being created last Wednesday.
WATCH: Vitale spoke to WPTV reporter Ethan Stein about how a train station would benefit his family business, but also the general economy.
TOURISM EFFECTS?
Other local business owners like Eric Wickstrom who runs Terra Fermata Tiki Bar in Stuart think the station would mostly be a personal gain rather than a business gain and doesn't agree that the station would cause a tourism "boom" in Martin County.
“I'd like to travel to Orlando and Miami for flights,” Wickstrom said to Stein. “…I don’t think a whole a lot of tourists would come [to Stuart].”
Documents show Stuart authorizing a price tag of $30 million on a station, but the city's mayor told WPTV Reporter Cassandra Garica he expects the cost to be much lower at $13 million.
The Martin County Tourist Development Council has agreed to contribute $80,000 towards buying tickets and marketing efforts for the station.
Mayor Campbell Rich said last week Martin County and the city of Stuart will split the cost at $6.5 million each.
"I'm very confident that the grants will come through," Rich said. "The city has no interest in wasting the taxpayers' money."
Read more of WPTV's coverage of Brightline below:
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