The United States is caught in a time warp of mid-20th century housing patterns, and unfortunately Martin County exemplifies why.
The entire nation does not have enough housing for its residents. From big cities to the rural countryside, people are having increasing difficulty finding adequate shelter. One of the key factors is our antiquated zoning rules that sadly work all too well as intended.
Those rules were and are enacted to limit the type of housing that can be built in neighborhoods. It restricts and excludes new development from occurring, particularly in established communities. Zoning is a political tool to keep people out.
By limiting the type of housing built through zoning to single family homes, it results in fewer new units that are needed being constructed. In 2019, California passed an accessory dwelling law that recognizes a property owner’s right to construct a “granny flat” on his property. While permissible zoning such as that would have limited value in most urban areas, in places like Martin County, it could provide a considerable amount of affordable housing.
And the people who speak out against multi-family dwellings within municipalities and CRAs are the same ones who look aghast at an apartment over a garage in a single-family home neighborhood. To them, it doesn’t matter what you build. It is the very act of building anything that they so hate.
COURTESY OF DWELL
Stuart and Martin County have a warped sense of what development is. That is why in the past 50 years, the ranches of Palm City have been traded in for vast gated communities that are the very definition of sprawl. The car is essential to shop for groceries, go to work, recreate, and attend school. It is the kind of unsustainable development and lifestyle that our children and grandchildren find harder and harder to maintain and, very often, do not want as their way of life.
What is better for the environment…a walkable semi-dense city or a cul-de-sac development? The never-will-we-agree-to-anything crowd is creating the very thing in Martin County that they so despise to our south and north. How often have I heard from those that moved here a year or two ago into one of those new housing developments that any more people will ruin the character of Stuart or Martin County. It is absurd and irrational.
AZUL DEVELOPMENT
We should protect existing homeowners from living next to an industrial plant. But when services such as a place to buy groceries, drop off your cleaning, or have a cup of coffee requires a car ride instead of a stroll, we are contributing to sprawl.
You can live within an urban setting and still enjoy your single-family home. Just let others enjoy the neighborhood by living in a variety of housing stock. They may not be able to afford a house but still need a place to call home.