Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on MacDill ferry:
Hillsborough may forgo fed money to expedite ferry to MacDill Air Force Base
Thursday, February 2, 2017 5:30am
TAMPA — Hillsborough County may say “thanks, but no thanks” to millions of federal dollars already earmarked for a ferry to connect MacDill Air Force Base and south county.
Instead, county commissioners want to see if Hillsborough can pay for the project itself, and maybe get it into the water much sooner.
Significant hurdles remain to fulfill the obligations required to unlock the $4.8 million federal grant to operate a south county ferry. On Wednesday, commissioners asked staffers to study what steps could be skipped if they turn down the federal government’s money and how that could affect the time line for launching boats.
There could be some cost savings, too, in avoiding certain studies and permits necessary to fulfill the grant requirements. But it won’t be anywhere near $4.8 million, meaning the county would have to find money to replace the federal government’s contribution.
The county was already on the hook for about $24 million to build the docks and parking lots and buy the ferries. Commissioner Ken Hagan suggested the $22.8 million still in reserve from the BP oil spill settlement could help pay for the project.
The $4.8 million grant was announced with much fanfare in 2014 by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and celebrated as a victory by ferry advocates, including Ed Turanchik, the former commissioner who now represents the companies behind the ferry project, HMS Ferries Inc. and South Swell Development Group LLC.
But now Turanchik says it may make sense to forgo the federal money.
“It’s probably the difference between three years and as many as seven years,” Turanchik said.
Commissioners also voted Wednesday to prioritize a $750,000 design and engineering study to be paid from the $600 million it has set aside over the next decade for transportation projects.
A ferry would “provide low-cost, fast and congestion-proof commuter service for 8,000 MacDill Air Force Base employees who live in south county,” Commissioner Sandy Murman said. Residents already have seen the potential in water travel through the Cross-Bay Ferry, the ongoing pilot program connecting the downtowns of Tampa and St. Petersburg via boat, she said.
The design study for the ferry will tackle two key questions.
The first is how to get residents to the ferry launch spot, a location yet to be determined. The second is how to properly screen passengers headed to MacDill, where security is tight.
MacDill has suggested setting up security checks on a barge just offshore, said Mike Williams, Hillsborough’s director of transportation planning and development, who added that the base is committed to the ferry.
MacDill did not respond to a request for comment.
