Cocoa City Council votes to seek $49 million federal grant for Brightline station

Tyler Vazquez, Florida Today
·2 min read

Brightline's future in Brevard County made another small step forward Tuesday after Cocoa's City Council voted unanimously to apply for a federal grant that would make up the bulk of the funding for a new station in the city.

In a 5-0 vote Tuesday night, the city approved applying for a grant that could bring $49 million in federal funding for a future Brightline station at what's called the Cocoa curve, a location where the passenger train must slow down to transition from an east-west pathway to a north-south one.

The station is planned for a 90-acre-plus site near Clearlake Road/U.S. 1 and State Road 528. Some of that land is owned by Brightline and some is owned by Cocoa.

Brightline operates 32 trains a day on the roughly 3½-hour route between Orlando International Airport and Miami.

City manager Stockton Whitten said City Council's approval would enable him to more easily deal with the securing the federal grant money moving forward.

"We've been working on a whole lot with regards to the Brightline station. We've been moving so fast," Whitten said at Tuesday's meeting. Whitten said that Tuesday's vote would ratify what has already been set in motion and that the city has until May 28 to submit the grant application.

"We've got a lot of logistical things to work on when we get the grant, but the city needs to be in the right position," Whitten added.

Tens of millions of dollars from the federal government would be combined with local funding as well. The Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization's Governing Board has designated a total of $15.5 million in federal grant money it is targeted to receive in future years to help cover design and construction work for the proposed station.

Brevard's Board of County Commissioners this month approved another $5 million in funding for the station that would be combined with $5 million directly from the city of Cocoa approved this year.

Brightline has stops at Orlando International Airport, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Aventura and Miami. Brightline carried 1.62 million passengers in 2023 and has set a goal of 4 million passengers by the end of 2024.

Tyler Vazquez is the Brevard County watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com.

 Brevard County Commission Chair Jason Steele says Brightline envisions that its planned Cocoa station will be similar to its station in Boca Raton, depicted here, and a planned station in Stuart.
Brevard County Commission Chair Jason Steele says Brightline envisions that its planned Cocoa station will be similar to its station in Boca Raton, depicted here, and a planned station in Stuart.
Cocoa city manager Stockton Whitten answers questions from the Brevard County Tourism Development Council at a recent meeting. The council made a motion to approve the $5 million request for the Brightline train station in Cocoa.
Cocoa city manager Stockton Whitten answers questions from the Brevard County Tourism Development Council at a recent meeting. The council made a motion to approve the $5 million request for the Brightline train station in Cocoa.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Cocoa will seek $49 million in federal funding for Brightline station