Broward delays vote on storage cost for streetcar

At the urging of Fort Lauderdale’s new mayor, county leaders decided to wait to vote on a price tag for part of the Wave streetcar project.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said he is trying to avoid the county making any further monetary commitments to the Wave project before the City Commission decides how it wants to proceed.

Broward commissioners delayed a decision Tuesday that could make the Wave up to $15 million more expensive, with the city on the hook to pick up half the extra cost.

Officials have tried to reduce the price of the Wave project, in part by scaling back the size of the facility where the light-rail streetcars will be stored and repaired.

Broward Mayor Beam Furr said he deferred the vote until April 24 at the Trantalis’ request.

It’s still not clear the 2.8-mile downtown transit system will ever be built. New construction bids are due April 26, and officials are waiting to see if the price will drop enough to allow the project to move forward.

Even if those bids are within budget, a majority of Fort Lauderdale commissioners say they’ll try to kill the project May 1 by having the city bow out of the project, a move that could lead to court battles.

Trantalis wanted the county to wait until after the May 1 vote and an April 30 city commission workshop on the Wave, but the county has to make its decision before the bids are revealed, based on the agreements it signed. He said he will meet

April 19 with Furr for more talks on the Wave.

Trantalis said he’s hoping it will be possible for the county to reverse itself if it votes to support an expanded facility.

The original plans called for a facility big enough to accommodate 12 vehicles — the five that are being purchased for the downtown Wave project and space for another seven that would be used on future expansion lines down Broward Boulevard, along State Road 7 and along University Drive. The new proposal only includes a five-vehicle facility.

County officials are concerned not building a big enough facility now would only increase the cost of adding onto the system in the future. Officials said building the larger facility now would cost less in the long run.

On Tuesday, Broward commissioners were supposed to decide if they’re still interested in having the bigger facility as part of the project — as long as it’s within $15 million of the cost of the smaller facility. Half the extra cost would be picked up by the city, with the county and the Downtown Development Authority splitting the other half.

The city attorney is reviewing the contracts to determine what the city’s options are, Trantalis said.

Downtown activist Stan Eichelbaum, a leading critic of the Wave project, said the item could be yet another hidden cost for the city in a project that’s already too expensive.

“It was diversionary, another way of billing it back to the city,” Eichelbaum said.

The downtown streetcar project has been in the planning stages for more than a decade and has received $82.7 million in federal grants. The state has kicked in $52.7 million and there’s another $59.9 million split between the city, the downtown authority, downtown property owners and the county. That created its $195.3 million budget.

When the first round of construction bids were opened in October, the lowest bid would have sent the overall price $74 million higher, to roughly $270 million. Rather than kill the project then, officials decided to rebid the project after making changes they hoped would significantly reduce the cost.

The two approved bidders have been asked to submit quotes that include a five-vehicle building and also what the extra cost would be for constructing a facility that would handle 12 and include the installation of a secondary track around the building.

Officials have budgeted $114 million for the construction work but have authority to move forward if the bids come in as high as $142.5 million. The extra cost for the maintenance facility would not be included in that total.

If the low bid is above $142.5 million, either the state, county or city have the authority to kill the project, according to agreements they have signed.