HOBE SOUND — Hundreds perhaps thousands of people in Martin County want train horns to blow no more — or at least less — along tracks in the county.
More than 100 people turned out April 28 to Harry and the Natives bar and grill in Hobe Sound to voice their opinions to county officials and hear from them about train quiet zones. The event was co-hosted by the Martin County Taxpayers Association and Quiet Zones for Martin County, which formed about eight months ago.
About 2,400 people have signed petitions in favor of quiet zones, said Jeff Aderman, co-founder of Quiet Zones for Martin County.
“You heard residents tonight and I was very adamant that you can balance both safety and the quality of life so we can have quiet zones,” County Commissioner Stacey Hetherington said to TCPalm following the meeting. “We can do both. We can implement them safely.”
County commissioners in March voted unanimously to reject quiet zones, citing safety as their main reason.
County Commissioner Blake Capps also attended the April 28 event and declined to comment. He wants more time to consider the issue.
Some residents’ concerns
“What are our primary concerns?” said Robert Schiller, a Mariner Sands resident, who was the first speaker at the meeting at Harry and the Natives. “There are two that I have on behalf of my community. One is something we all share: quality of life.
“Two hundred horns a day affects our quality-of-life ladies and gentlemen,” Schiller said. “Noise pollution at the utmost.”
The persistent horn noise depreciates property values, too, Schiller claimed, and people have walked away from buying a home near the tracks when the horn was blowing.
Reasons to keep horns sounding
But at least one Martin County resident is unphased by the sound of train horns.
Brightline goes so fast, “who cares,” said Donna Kochin, a Hobe Sound resident who lives 50 feet from the tracks in a modular home. Neither daytime nor nighttime trains bother her and freight trains are nostalgic, she said.
And Jimmy Smith, president of the NAACP of Martin County, sees the sound of train horns as a safety measure.
“I think it’s so important that the people that travel need to be aware a train is coming,” Smith said. “It might save somebody’s life because at night when (there’s) not much traffic people take chances. They want to go around the railroad guards.”
People who are out drinking late at night need to have a warning, Smith added, because sometimes railroad crossing arms fail.
What could happen next?
Twenty-seven railroad crossings exist in Martin County, Martin County Public Works Director Jim Gorton said. Nineteen are on county property, five are in Stuart, two are controlled by the state and one is a private crossing.
It will be more challenging to establish quiet zones at some crossings, such as the one at Confusion Corner in Stuart and another at Jensen Beach Boulevard, because of the design of the intersection, Hetherington said to attendees.
Those crossings might require significant financial investment, she said.
But an opportunity exists to pursue a partial number of quiet zones, she said. Quiet zones for eight crossings — six in Hobe Sound and two in Jensen Beach — could be implemented quickly, Hetherington told TCPalm.
The process to establish a quiet zone could be as short as four months, Gorton said.
The first step would be for the County Commission to vote again on the matter.
“I feel the people got their message to the commissioners,” said Darlene Van Riper, executive director of the Martin County Taxpayers Association, after the meeting.
The taxpayers association is advocating for taxpayers who are being adversely affected by the sound of train horns, she said.
Keith Burbank is TCPalm’s watchdog reporter covering Martin County. He can be reached at keith.burbank@tcpalm.com and at 720-288-6882.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Residents of this Florida county are seeking to quiet train horns
Reporting by Keith Burbank, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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