STUART, Fla. — Contention continues in Martin County over the highly controversial Brightline station— originally planned for Stuart.
A letter WPTV obtained, written by Martin County Administrator Don Donaldson, asked the city of Stuart to write a letter of support for the county's grant application to fund the future station.
To fully understand the situation though, let's backtrack to the beginning.
In December 2023, Martin County and Stuart both voted to enter into an interlocal agreement, in which they agreed to partially fund a Brightline Station if the high speed rail company selected their request for proposal.
The expected $60 million cost would be split between Martin County, Stuart and Brightline: Stuart would pay up to $30 million for a parking garage, while Martin County and Brightline would fund the station—paying up to $15 million each, according to the agreement. (link)
In March, Brightline officially announced Stuart as the selected stop but months later, in September, Stuart city commissioners rescinded both the land lease with Brightline and an amended version of the original interlocal agreement, to the surprise of Brightline supporters in attendance.
"We were shocked and sadden by the news," said Brightline supporter, Sherry Lee.
In November, Martin County voted to move forward with their own Brightline lease anyway and this week, sent a letter to the city of Stuart, asking they write a letter of support to the Federal Railroad Administration for the county's grant application to fund the future station.
"How does the city of Stuart feel about this letter?" WPTV's Kate Hussey asked City Manager Mike Mortell.
"Supporting a letter or a grant is something that the city has done many times in the past. It doesn't create any financial obligation for the city," he responded.
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Mortell told Hussey he's recommending city commissioners write the letter of support.
The original interlocal agreement, which the city reverted back to when they rescinded the amended version, states if Brightline selects the city and county's proposal, both parties would "cooperate in applying for federal, state or other grants to offset the costs of the project."
Though Martin County doesn't explicitly threaten a lawsuit, Donaldson in his letter wrote if the city refused to provide the letter of support, it would be another "clear breach of the interlocal agreement" resulting in "monetary damages the city of Stuart will be solely responsible for."
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"If we found ourselves in litigation at all, taxpayer dollars would be the cost of defense," said Mortell. "So, I don't want to go there."
"Is litigation something you're concerned about?" Hussey asked City Commissioner Sean Reed.
"I don't 100% know, but I will say when you talked about the interlocal agreement, every resident in this city and county was duped anyway," Reed replied.
Reed is one of three commissioners who voted to rescind the Brightline agreement on Sept. 9.
Part of his reasoning dealt with the amended agreement, which put the city on the hook for the design and development of the train station itself instead of the parking garage, as previously planned, though the agreement still said Stuart would only pay up to $30 million.
"I don't think it's a true public/private partnership," said Reed. "We're subsidizing their station, so they can turn a profit and make money off of taxpayers."
Yet Lee, a business owner in Stuart and resident of Port Salerno, said she feels litigation would derail her taxpayer dollars more than any station would.
"I will be funding both sides, I live in the county, I own businesses in the city, I still support the county being extremely aggressive at this point. It's too big to let go," said Lee.
WPTV reached out to Martin County officials for comment. They haven't responded to our requests.
City commissioners haven't said how they'll vote yet but Mortell told Hussey he plans to bring it up to commissioners Monday, so he can officially list it as an agenda item for Jan. 27.
