Martin County Never Planned For The Future…On Purpose
In planning for future development, anticipating future needs is critically important. One of the key factors is to have some sort of system of roads and streets including infrastructure that would accompany the development. Martin County failed to do so 60 years ago, and we are paying the price today.
Maybe we could have corrected some of this with the introduction of the comp plan in 1990, but instead the county’s idea of planning was to try and keep people out instead of allowing for controlled growth patterns. This has resulted in the continuous fights over population growth ever since.
Because there never was an adequate grid program for roadways, we were left with very few connectors as we developed west. Even in places like Stuart, trying to move traffic off Federal Highway is nearly impossible because there were and are very few connectors between Federal and Indian Street or Salerno or Cove Road. This has resulted in those roads having traffic.
I believe the county’s failure to buy adequate rights of way was deliberate. That, along with the idea of 20-acre ranchettes, has been the genesis of the great land wars of Martin County. Both of which were deliberate attempts to restrict people from moving to Martin County. What is worse, though, is that it has prevented the children of Martin County from returning after finishing school to raise their families. Housing and the dearth of industry located here which would provide needed employment is lacking.
Somehow the misguided notion that these two policies would be ecologically friendly is false. 20-acre ranchettes, the predominant land use in the west, are the playthings of wealthy people not those who work in our governments and industry. They require all the services of one-acre parcels only it takes a lot more money to deliver those services to them.
That doesn’t mean we should not have the option available, but it shouldn’t be what areas of the western county are zoned for to such an extent. The ranchette should not be the default position when a farmer wants to sell his land.
On the ballot in November will be a ½ cent sales tax to buy ecologically sensitive lands. Part of that is to buy agricultural conservation easements. That would allow the farmer or rancher who is struggling economically to have another mechanism to continue what may no longer be feasible because cows and corn no longer pay enough in relationship to the value of the land.
However, if the farmer or rancher has an alternative to an outright sale of his/her land by keeping it in an agricultural easement, then some money can come his/her way but allow for the farm use to continue.
What is next? In some respects, the rural lifestyle use can preserve open land. The alternative would be having the St. Lucie County solution of endless track homes. That would bring us more people, but the level of service would be increased at a cost and the end of green space would be the result.
The project now known as The Ranches is going to be 91% green space. That is achieved by clustering 175 homes on a little over 300 acres of the 3900 acres that make up the project. The rest will be kept in ranching, farming, 2 golf courses, and preserve areas.
I have heard some say that the public won’t have access. The public doesn’t have access now to the 3900 acres. It is private property now and will remain private property.
As of right, they could have built 200 home ranchettes with 200 septic systems. By running the lines over a mile to the property at their expense, they have eliminated those septic systems. Isn’t that better for the environment?
Because the county did not adequately plan, we are left in a terrible bind. In some respects, the rural lifestyle land use and the ½ cent sales tax in November (assuming the referendum passes) will provide a way to proceed with realistically preserving open western lands as much as possible.
Some may say that we shouldn’t allow development to happen. Unless the county wants to have one lawsuit loser after another, there is no choice. There are property rights and even Martin County must respect those rights. Alternatives are our best hope of not looking like the counties to the north and south of us.
