Esteemed Mayor Demings, Mayor Dyer, Appreciated Commissioners and Directors of the Central Florida Expressway Authority:

We the residents of Hunter's Creek (and adjacent affected communities) reach out to you today to beseech your thoughtful discernment in the case of the proposed Brightline CFRC/SR 417 alignment that will generate many negative effects on our 37-year-old planned community and its more than 25,000 residents. We are 100% in full support of the Brightline, but we ask that you kindly spare our community from hardship by ensuring that the project follows the Northern High Speed Rail alignment (along SR 528) approved in 2010, which runs through the Taft-Vineland industrial corridor.

The proposed crossing of this High-Speed Heavy Rail System through our carefully planned and developed neighborhoods via the SR 417 Northern Alignment will impact us negatively in the following ways:

• Increased Noise and Vibration Levels during the lengthy construction period and during the train's operation, which cannot be mitigated with simple sound walls.
• Loss of Property Values - Approximately 3,000 homes in the neighborhoods that are adjacent to the high-speed heavy rail tracks will immediately lose market and rental value. These neighborhoods include, but are not limited to: Camden, Carrington, Colonial Grand, Falcon Pointe, Mallard Cove, Mar Vista, The Parks, The Pointe, Raintree, Terra Vista, Villanova, Westshire.
• Disturbance of Our Quiet Places - including our lakes, Shingle Creek conservation area and the surrounding natural areas where our residents enjoy fishing, nature watching and walking.
• "No-Horns Will be Used" Claim Endangers Our Wildlife - If Brightline claims it will not use its horns when it's traveling approximately 100 mph, how will deer and other animals from our preservation areas be able to escape from being hit? And if it does use its horns, then the issue of noise becomes a larger problem.
  
• Safety for Hunter's Creek Middle and West Creek Elementary School students, who will have the speed rail tracks within feet of their classrooms. Should there be a derailment, or should students venture into the tracks after school, our children would be in peril. There is also the issue of the constant noise during construction and daily operation, and the distraction it will cause during class time.
• Safety of Sole Entrance/Exit to the Vistas - which has one single entry and exit point for six neighborhoods. This area will be severely compromised during the construction, and any train or construction accident could cause immediate blockage for the more than 2,800 residents and 865 students of West Creek Elementary School.
• Increased Urban Sprawl - This speed-train would effectively introduce an urban environment development into our carefully planned Suburban community. Including the permanent disturbance of our conservation areas.
• Damage to Our Pristine Wetlands and Displacement of Endangered Fauna - The 417 Northern Alignment would place train tracks across virgin wetlands, destroying conservation areas, and posing a threat to many of our highly endangered Florida wildlife preserved therein. Including: deer, tortoises, cranes, bog frogs, and other animals that can be hit, run over, or otherwise get caught in the tracks.
• No Limits or Guarantees on Additional Rail Use - It is not known if Brightline would sublease its train lines to other train companies to increase their own revenues; creating even more traffic and noise in our community, with no particular direct benefit to our residents.
• No Reduction in Cars/Traffic - Because Brightline is not a commuter train, aligning its path to SR 417 does not reduce the high-traffic problems that Hunter's Creek is experiencing today. Typical riders on 417 are not always traversing to and from Disney and OIA (the only two stops firmly planned for this SR 417 Southern route). They are also not traveling to or from Tampa or Miami on 417. Hence, no reduction in traffic is expected for Hunter's Creek.
• Detailed Proof that a SR 528 Alignment is More Expensive? - The cost analysis for the SR 528 Alignment has not been shared with us. And the costs of a Southern SR 417 Alignment have not considered the Loss of Value Settlements Brightline will need to pay to more than 3,000 Hunter's Creek Residents, plus affected businesses, and other protected properties.
• Private Business Using Private Dollars -- Cost is their Issue, Not Ours - In either case, the cost-savings of a private business seeking to create a private revenue-generating project should not be used as an excuse to take a path that negatively impacts a community, like a SR 417 Brightline Alignment would affect Hunter's Creek.
• Large Central Florida Employers and Businesses Ignored by 417 Route - Unlike the North SR 528 Alignment, this Southern SR 417 Alignment would fail to bring travelers to one of our major revenue generating and largest employment areas in our County - International Drive. With the Orange County Convention Center and countless hotels, restaurants, retail businesses, and nearby Universal Studios, Sea World, Lockheed Martin and UCF's Rosen College, an opportunity will be missed for generating important ridership dollars for Brightline, and increased direct sales tax revenues for Orange County.
• The Northern SR 528 Alignment includes both a stop at International Drive and a stop at Walt Disney World's Disney Springs. This route encompasses the largest share of benefits to Orange County, its largest businesses and employers, while keeping our neighborhoods, wildlife, schools and environment safe and uncompromised.

We thank you for very kindly considering our plight and we appreciate your thoughtful decision. We are your appreciative constituents who have voted for you, because we know that you have our best interest at heart and you care about what affects us. We also appreciate the entire CFX Board's role in seeking and doing what is just and fair for our Hunter's Creek Community.

For the reasons stated above and many more, we will wholeheartedly thank you for Approving the Northern Alignment (SR 528) instead of SR 417 for the Brightline Speed-Train's route from OIA to Tampa.

With much gratitude and respect always,

Your Hunter's Creek Community and Neighboring Residents of 417 adjacent communities including: Meadow Woods, Deerfield, Kempton Park, Southchase, Falcon Pointe and more.