Category Archives: Government Spending and Taxation

Stuart Taxpayers Continue to Subsidize A Private Entity

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I study the county’s budgets along with the school board and the different municipalities as well. This article will look at Stuart and its relationship with the non-profit, Stuart Main Street.

 

According to its website, “Stuart Main Street uses the Main Street Four Point Approach to create and promote a positive downtown experience for residents, businesses, and visitors.” It would seem to us to be a good goal to achieve. That goal is in line with what a chamber of commerce should do. Should Stuart be subsidizing with taxpayer dollars a private organization to fulfill that goal?

 

Its website outlines past glory stretching back to 1986 when the city’s downtown was a ghost town. Some of their more recent achievements listed are the 2009 involvement in upgrades along Colorado Avenue and participating in the discussion regarding whether city hall should move from its current location in 2014. The latest press release included on the site is a year old with the notice that they hired a new executive director.

 

For many years, the organization was under the auspices of the city and the executive director was a city employee. The administrative part was also performed by the city. To be recognized as a “Main Street” by the Main Street umbrella organization there must be an independent board and the local program must have a full-time director.

 

When the city-paid executive director left her city position, a new deal was struck with the organization to allow them to lease Flagler Center which would soon be empty on very favorable terms. They then could have events and sublease space for an income stream.

Flagler Place

Until Flagler Center could get on its feet and provide rental income, the city would subsidize the organization with a grant of $70,000 for the first year and decreasing over the next two years until it was to be extinguished at that point. The agreement is now entering its third year, and the organization is still receiving the full $70,000.

 

In the interim, the contract with the Sunday Greenmarket operator was terminated by the city and an agreement was struck with Main Street to manage that at less than what the last operator paid.

 

The question to be asked is whether the taxpayers are receiving a benefit of this largess to a private entity? It seems that the main occupation of this organization in the last several years is putting on events in conjunction with the Downtown Business Association. Their signature event is the weekly Rock’n Riverwalk Sunday afternoon music series held on Stuart’s stage.

 

They also have several craft fairs per year and events like Hob Goblins on Main Street and a Christmas event of some sort. The events, except Rock’n, are run by a marketing company and not Stuart Main Street who simply acts as a middleman.

 

Just like a person, an organization has a life span. Thirty-five years ago, Stuart’s downtown was a literal ghost town. The businesses had been hollowed out by changing shopping patterns. The growth of the county’s population needed more than just one block of stores where people could shop. That was accomplished. However, that left downtown Stuart with many empty store fronts.

 

The Main Street Organization was instrumental in bringing back a new downtown consisting of restaurants and one-of-a-kind stores. This is in sharp contrast to what had been there before consisting of more mundane businesses such as a drug store and department store. Downtown today is a destination spot for tourist to enjoy an old-time vibe and for locals to have places to eat.

 

Today’s vibrancy requires different approaches than what worked in the past. Success should be celebrated. That does not mean that the city should continue feeding an entity that at this point should be standing on its own. It is no longer the sole voice but one of many interest groups.

 

Stuart’s CRA is undergrounding utility lines on Seminole Street. While Stuart Main Street was a proponent of outdoor dining, it was only one of many voices calling for it. The success of the initiative is mainly the result of the efforts of the restaurants themselves not one outside organization.

 

In my opinion, it is time for the city to stop subsidizing this organization with money and favored lease deals. If the city wants to continue with any program that is currently under the auspices of Stuart Main Street, it can do so without paying a middleman but just hiring the event company itself. Originally Stuart was the producer of the Sunday concert series.

 

The CRA budget has grown considerably over the past several years. Some of the programs that it funds are stuck in an earlier time. Those funds should be used on brick-and-mortar projects such as it did with buying and then bringing the infrastructure in for Azul, the successful multi-family property on city-owned land.

 

Unfortunately, just like the county, Stuart too often plays politics using tax dollars for their favored organizations. Stuart does so…only on a much smaller scale. The Stuart City Commission needs to debate the question in the open and come up with a way to have Main Street become a truly independent organization.

 

If a Stuart taxpayer heard that the Stuart Chamber of Commerce was receiving a subsidy from the city for promoting the businesses of chamber members, the taxpayers would be outraged. Is there a difference here?

 

The Hypocrisy of the NIMBY Crowd

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In big cities and small towns, some American liberals have a problem living up to their own standards. They preach the gospel of helping the poor and working classes, but every time it requires any change to their own surroundings, they become adamant foes.

 

The most prevalent cause of this is keeping restricted zoning laws throughout the United States. They gussy up their opposition claiming it is environmental degradation to allow more rental housing units to be built next to their upper middle-class neighborhoods. Another favorite ploy is claiming that the character of those neighborhood may be changed. Meaning that people of a lower socio-economic class may move next door.

This recently came to the forefront in Stuart when the opposition to a real estate project which included both apartments and a Costco store brought out this crowd. They are superb NIMBY adherents. Speakers used the environment (there are no natural wetlands on this old farm site), traffic (it is on a six-lane roadway), its location next to a high school as if speeding shoppers are going to mow down our youth, and the perplexing, “we don’t want any more people to live here.”

 

This behavior is nothing new by those claiming to want to help people but only in the abstract. Their adherence to the secular faith of helping the poor underclasses is their modus operandi except when they may be called upon to have those people in their presence.

 

Homes and jobs are important for everyone even those without a college degree and the ability to make a house down payment. They will never have either if we do not allow the market to function. I would understand and even agree if they had plopped this development down within an existing single family home neighborhood. This is not the case.

 

One of the chief opponents to the project had one of her experts claim the area was rural in character (that is far from the truth) and another claim that traffic would be horrendous because over 12,000 people lived within a square mile of the project. The current 6 lane highway is not even at a third of capacity according to engineering studies.

 

Restricted and outdated zoning has worsened the housing shortage in this country. Upper class Republicans and Democrats both use restrictive laws to keep their areas free of others not in their economic niche. For some reason, those that bemoan the fate of the working class get up my dander the most when it comes to this behavior.

 

There is a place for zoning, but it should not exist to perpetually leave people behind. The best way to help is by encouraging job creation and adequate housing which only the private sector can do sufficiently and efficiently. I am certainly in favor of job training, housing assistance, and food assistance being government provided. But I will criticize those that speak about lofty goals then actively subvert the market from providing just that.

 

Tallahassee’s Version of The Godfather

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The Florida legislative season is over. It was a hard session if you believe in local government control. The continuation of the Tallahassee brand of “pater familias knows best” attitude was pre-eminent.

 

“Pater familias” is a Latin term for head of the family. In ancient Rome, the oldest male in a family oversaw the family property and all the other family members as well. His word was law. There was no need to consult the rest of the household before making decisions. This was basically the way the mafia was organized with the godfather as head of the family.

            PINTEREST

 

 

The Florida legislature has a history of making sure that local governments do not go to far afield in how and what they do. They are eager to prevent cities and counties from passing things that would make their contributors unhappy. Industries do not want to deal with individual counties and cities. They would rather whisper in the ears of the heads of the families, as legislative leaders believe they are.

 

If a city bans plastic bags, the legislative leaders pass a pre-emption. The builders want uniformity, and the heads of our state families have the building codes changed so that locals can’t intrude on architectural details. Our state fathers proclaim freedom for their local families unless it interferes with their friends. It almost sounds like a “Godfather” movie.

 

For example, Key West residents wanted to limit cruise ship traffic as evidenced by 60% of the Key West voters saying yes to the limitation. The legislature then inserted into another bill a retroactive provision that would prohibit local ballot initiatives restricting maritime commerce. It does not matter what the people want. State pols will make sure that the plebes do not cross the economic patricians who contribute to the families’ coffers.

 

This issue of impact fees serves as another example. In my opinion, impact fees are not always justified, especially in a built-out municipality. I would much rather see individual projects pay for their impacts as part of the PUD agreements when projects are approved. Just because I think impact fees are not useful does not mean I want Tallahassee limiting the ability of local governments to collect them. How about the legislature stays out of the matter and allows local people to decide whether they should be imposed?

 

From tree ordinances to short term rentals, the best decisions are local. I thought implementation of the straw ordinance in Stuart was a waste. Even though many businesses have complied, how much has it helped the environment…none. It was a feel-good measure and nothing more.

 

Though I opposed the implementation of that ban, I supported the Stuart commission’s authority to do so. In the past several years, Florida has moved from local governments making the decisions to a dictatorship imposing its will under the guise of freedom.

 

Do not be fooled. There is not freedom when Tallahassee tells us what to do. Our political tribes call the shots because the likelihood that our state representatives will lose in a re-election are very slim to none. Martin County is a very safe Republican stronghold where there are no worries about the voters.

It is not whether you agree with a particular position, it is whether you want the decisions made by state pols who believe your preferences are immaterial. Pre-emption of local governance has slowly taken away our individuality…not enhanced it. The political dribble “new speak” is just that…a way of making you think that what they do in Tallahassee is best. Do not buy it for a second. Tallahassee does what is best for Tallahassee’s politicians.

 

Creating Housing Is Not Brain Surgery

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We hear much about affordable/work force/attainable housing. Unless there is a continuous government subsidy of those rents, this is a dream that is going nowhere.

 

I often see that commissioners, especially in Stuart, ask that some sort of set aside be done for these type units when approving new projects. While I am not against the attempt it is almost always futile even when the developer agrees. There will just never be enough of whatever you would like to call this type of submarket housing without the hand of the federal government.

 

Washington has stayed away from any new form of subsidized housing for a long time. Decades ago, it stopped building entire projects. Those that previously did come along ended up as slums worse than any tenement that it was to replace. The grand era of government-built housing projects that were prevalent in the 1930s through 1970s will probably never be repeated.

 

For awhile the feds, administered at times by the state, had a voucher system so that this segment of the population could be serviced by the private sector. This too fell out of favor by both cutbacks at the federal and state levels and private owners that felt there were too many rules to follow before you had the money. As a private owner, I use to dread the words “Do you take Section 8?”

 

In Martin County there is a way to have much more affordable/work force/attainable housing. It is by allowing the market to operate without so many restrictions. The more housing that is built, the easier it will be to meet the demand. As new housing comes online, the less desirable existing units become cheaper in price.

                       Courtesy of Pinterest

Martin County needs several thousand additional units. These units need to be in multi-family buildings. The building of single-family homes will not drop the level of asking rents which would alleviate the shortages. Within our cities and in the county CRAs there needs to be greater density so that enough units can be built. If a developer can put 30 or more units per acre, then the price of each unit to build is lessened.

 

In new projects that doesn’t mean the rent will be lower for those units. The sheer increase in units being offered will drive down the prices at older developments. We have all heard of the supply and demand axiom. It is true.

 

What would really provide here and the rest of the U.S. even more units at more affordable prices would be a true voucher system. In the old Section 8 program, an owner could be required to have his property inspected by the government before the voucher was issued. It became a bureaucratic morass.

 

In a true voucher system, the tenant would apply for vouchers based on income. If accepted, then the voucher payment would go to the property owner each month for the duration of the lease. There would be no required inspections except those that would be performed and monitored by local code enforcement. Any sub-standard conditions would be addressed the same as if the tenant were paying the entire amount of rent without assistance.

 

Collusion or fraud by owner or tenant would be handled like any other theft of services. Audits could be performed to make sure that housing accommodations were being rented to the recipient of the voucher. There need not be an overabundance of red tape.

 

The main thing we must all remember is that the housing shortage for everyone can only be made better with more availability of units. We need to stop protesting every time something is being built. If anything, we should be encouraging more building especially of multi-family construction.

 

 

The Martin County Absurd Difference

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It seems to me that sometimes Martin County cannot recognize absurd situations. The moving of the fair to its new home in Indiantown is one of those absurdities.

 

For years, we have heard how the Martin County Fair Association cannot raise the required funds to make the move. It isn’t for lack of trying but, according to Fair Manager Jay Spicer, they are competing with puppies and babies for funders. Mr. Spicer might be totally inept as a fund raiser, or perhaps it is the mission he is purporting that is absurd.

I know I would rather give my money to help kids and animals than build some giant “Agri-Plex” with an archery center, motorcross track, farmer’s market, and an assortment of other wow projects. Our local government is not immune to this disease of absurdity and often helps it along.

 

The BOCC cannot just build a community pool…instead it needs the razzle dazzle of a waterpark. It cannot operate a golf course but instead needs to create one that will bring golf to the next level with a Top Golf experience, night golf (for those that are not golfers) and the ability to simulate playing at Pebble Beach.

 

The new Sand Beach Cafe at Stuart Beach operated by the county cannot find a manager because of the pay scale. The Jensen Beach mooring field is off to a slow start based on the demand for ball rentals. I am surprised the county hasn’t decided to build a convention center yet.

 

Given all of this, why hasn’t the county stepped in and taken over the fair after years of non-accomplishment? Perhaps staff knows that if they propose just a simple fairground without all the bells and whistles, the commissioners will not be able to help themselves but to embrace the current absurd plan costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

 

That really is the crux of the matter…what should government do and what should the private sector (including non-profits) be involved in? It should be obvious for anyone that thinks about it for a moment. In absurd Martin County, there is no policy or philosophy which separates the two.

 

The reason that the private sector does not embrace the water park is because it is destined to be a money loser. The same goes for Top Golf and all the rest of the Martin County BOCC schemes to appropriate tax dollars for projects that should not be built in our small market.

 

Then, you have a non-profit, the Fair Association, that cannot raise money even for constructing a simple structure to house a two-week fair because there aren’t enough people that care whether there is a fair or not. They surely do not want to give money to a board that appears to be overreaching outside of their mission.

 

That is another one of Martin County’s absurd rationales. There are no boundaries between what the government, nonprofits, and private business should do. So, taxpayer dollars will continue to be spent on non-governmental functions from running restaurants to waterparks.

 

The Indiantown Chamber of Commerce successfully puts on the Indiantown Rodeo each year. It has a definitive mission and the chamber sticks to that mission. It isn’t a place to take horseback riding lessons throughout the year. Perhaps the Fair Association and the county government should take that  lesson. They probably will not.

 

And I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t hear again that the move has been postponed to at least 2023 because of funding issues at the time of the 2022.

 

 

 

 

I Love Wawa…And Costco!

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I love Wawa. I love Costco.

 

Wawa treats their customers very well. I go there for gas and because of the free air for provided. I make it a point to buy all my gas at Wawa whether I need air or not because of that service.

 

Costco is the best warehouse club hands down. When I lived up north, I would shop there all the time. No supermarket beats the quality of their meat.

 

But, if I had to choose which of the two businesses I would rather have located here, it would be Costco.

 

Some of Palm City’s vocal residents by their continuous and contentious opposition to Costco has now resulted in Wawa with its 6000 square foot convenience store and 12 pumps locating on the site. Additionally, there will be a Tractor Farm Supply store and a 16,400 square foot Aldi supermarket going there. As a bonus, there may be a hotel and car wash too.

 

This is what has been approved where Costco considered building a store.  Many area residents came out and defeated the store going there. I wonder if they now will be much happier with this amalgam of businesses over that nuisance known as Costco.

 

Because if there is anything we hate in Martin County, it is change. And people think that these infill projects will never be developed. “Landowners should keep the property vacant,” we hear over and over as if the owner has no right to derive economic benefit from his asset.

 

In this instance, those complaining were the people now living in the developments that were once on empty scrub land. They moved into houses built on lands that were smack in the middle of the woods and pastures of Palm City. Their schools and churches were on bulldozed sites that were home to native animals, birds and plants that were forced to go elsewhere.

 

At the LPA meeting, there was only one gentleman who spoke in opposition according to an article in TC Palm. The board approved Wawa and the rest of the development on a 5-0 vote. According to Bob Raynes, the developer’s attorney, the use is as of right. But then so was Costco.

 

The difference was hundreds of people fought Costco and no one did this time. Did they just get tired, which ultimately happens, or were they manipulated by foes of the earlier project, which also occurs. Is Martin County better by having another Wawa and Aldi than Costco with its upscale merchandise and minimum $20 per hour jobs? I guess Palm City thinks so.

 

Costco is supposedly coming to Stuart. It will be sited close to the foot of the Memorial Bridge on Kanner Highway. The site provides easy access to the Palm City customer base which is their demographic. Many have voiced the same old concerns regarding traffic, etc. that they raised for the High Meadow Road project. The mob may sway enough Stuart commissioners to vote against the project. Politicians have the backbone of jelly fish.

 

Mark my words that if Costco does not go on that site something else will eventually. It is an infill project that will be built upon. Somebody will live in an apartment on that site. Someone will work in a store or other business on that site. The naysayers will not permanently stop the owners of the property from maximizing their investment.

 

I just hope they do not accomplish for Stuart what they did for Palm City. At least Palm City isn’t getting a giant adult bookstore or truck stop according to current plans. However, when it is built, Phase 2 may have something different than that hotel. Both the bookstore and truck stop also are zoned as of right for the property.

Florida scrub habitat in early springtime at Lake Kissimmee State Park in Lake Wales.

A Crisis Can Have A Benefit

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Covid may be a change agent in a wide variety of arenas in addition to being a deadly virus.

 

For years, the taxing of internet sales has gone nowhere. Bills would be introduced only to die in committee.

 

Some Republican legislators took the position that taxing products that were bought on the internet would be tantamount to a tax increase. It was fine to pay tax if you bought the item from a local retailer, but if it was shipped from Way Fair, collecting sales tax was verboten. The law stated that the buyer was obligated to remit the sales tax to the state, but how many of us ever did that?

 

Along comes Covid and in store sales dropped resulting in less tax revenue for the state. Now Tallahassee is looking to make up some lost money. Florida may finally join the majority of other states and begin having online merchants collect sales tax. It is about time that internet sales are on a level playing field with the brick-and-mortar merchant.

 

Another part of the Covid crisis is school enrollment. In Martin County, we are fortunate that there are only about 20 students who are unaccounted for since Covid hit. But that does not mean that district enrollment is down by only that many students. It is significantly more. Statewide there are 87,000 kids unaccounted for. Poof…they are gone!

 

School districts receive a fixed amount of money for each student registered in the district. If kids are no longer enrolled in your school district, then the amount of money the district has available to spend is less. If you lose approximately 600 students to Florida Virtual, home schooling, or private schools, suddenly some teachers are no longer needed. Special programs are cut. Music and art become casualties along with other so-called extras.

 

The state will pretend that those 87,000 kids are still there this year for funding allocations but that is a one-shot deal. Our educational system may be in for a shake-up going forward. There is a broad Republican consensus in Tallahassee that other ways to educate children should be tried. Vouchers are leading the way for choice in education.

 

Another never changing issue just might change. Employer and business liability for actions has been broadened over the years. In many instances, businesses did ignore worker safety and the public good. An entire industry of tort litigation has grown larger and larger with each passing year.

 

Of course, that allows for businesses and professions to be held responsible for their actions. It also makes everything more expensive. From doctors to real estate agents to drug manufacturers and everyone else, there is always now a presumption by them that you can be sued so act defensively.

 

The latest fear are businesses being sued by customers and employees if they contract Covid. How you would ever prove where someone caught it would be

difficult. But an absence of proof never stopped someone from initiating a lawsuit. And defending a lawsuit is expensive…even frivolous ones.

 

The legislature has bills in both the House and Senate erecting barriers to allowing individuals to claim that they contracted Covid at a particular business or non-profit. Maybe this is the beginning of tort reform. I certainly hope so. Most people believe that the “sue for anything and everything” legal bar needs to be reformed.

 

A crisis such as Covid can be useful in reforming things that would never change without prodding. I hope that reform is perceived as making our lives better. It should be something that allows for society to change and improve. I hope we see more of it and not just protectionism and cronyism masquerading as true reform.

 

 

Each Should Stop Grasping

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For years, I have championed home rule for local government.

 

It is important that as many decisions as possible be made as close to those that will be affected by their consequences. That is an essential reason to have municipalities. For example, zoning decisions regarding where businesses can be located should be determined within the locality. Municipal and county public works departments should oversee when streets are paved and how many parks are needed.

 

Is there an example of when local control contributes to a worse outcome than a better one? When does passing ordinances against something make government look silly and petty or, in our “don’t tread on me” society, seem hypocritical?

 

Anytime government restricts an activity it needs to do so with most of its citizens wanting the restriction. Passing a law to make a political point without regard to the practicality of either enforcement or consequences is the height of legislative irresponsibility. Yet doing exactly that is something that occurs quite regularly.

 

What brought this thought of local overreach to mind occurred at the last Stuart commission meeting. There was a second reading of a proposed ordinance on raising the age of purchasing vaping products to 21. This would match a county ordinance which did that earlier. The current state law is 18 for vaping and 21 for other tobacco products.

 

Let us forget the fairness of forbidding legal adults of 18-21 the ability to make their own choices regarding alcohol and nicotine. Do not mention that at 18 you can enlist in the military, vote, buy a house, or marry. Stuart has or have had police officers who are 20 years of age. They can carry a gun and have the ability and supposed judgement to make arrests yet are too immature to have a beer or a smoke. Put all that aside.

 

The City of Stuart and Martin County have made the determination that vaping will now be forbidden to that class of citizens. Is it overreach and an example of the nanny state and bad legislation? It is to me.

 

The second thing that occurred was a discussion of the enforcement of the use of single use plastics in city-owned property which is punishable by civil fines being imposed. If a meal is served in a Styrofoam clamshell at the greenmarket, the ordinance has been violated. Most of the discussion was how it was going to be enforced.

 

The city was prohibited by the state from banning plastic and Styrofoam by preemption. The only place such a ban can apply is on city property. The only product that could be banned for the entire city were plastic straws…and they did.

 

That was another topic of discussion at the commission meeting now that the grace period for fines is over. Martin County does not have a similar ordinance so you can use a plastic bag in their parks or at the beach. Stuart stands as an enclave in a sea of petroleum product detritus.

 

Should the use of single stream plastic and other such items be banned? I say yes if done by the state or better yet the feds. Several states have already done so. Florida has specifically preempted local governments from addressing the issue. But to think that a tiny municipality or county should do so while their bordering neighbors do not is unrealistic and will not accomplish very much. It will put an undue burden on our local businesses.

 

I predict that in this legislative session, the state will raise the age of purchasing vaping products to 21 and then preempt any local regulation much as they did with tobacco. I predict that the state will pass a bill preempting a locality from banning plastic straws. And finally, I predict that at some point in the next year, an enforcement action against some nonprofit for the use of plastics at an event in a Stuart park will result in the commission chamber being inundated by a mob of angry citizens. Then do not be surprised to see a repeal of that ordinance.

 

The problem with too many local elected officials is they forget why they exist. It is primarily to provide services that the private sector cannot or will not provide. Police, fire, water, parks, and roads are the important things. Whether a community should have high rise buildings, or 20-acre zoning should be local decisions.

 

When local government tries to monitor behaviors, it will be courting controversy. Just look at the problems Martin County has had with masks. Do I think that the state should stay out of things like zoning and what can go into front yards? I absolutely do.

 

Every level of government should stay in its own lane. Local governments that do overreach are just inviting preemption from the state. Each time the state uses preemption, it becomes easier for them to use it again.

 

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It Is Not About Costco

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People are using the possibility of Costco coming to Martin County as a symbol in the development wars. It has little to do with Costco. It has everything to do with the future of the county.

Many have this idealized vision of what Martin County should be. It should remain as it was in (insert your own year here.)

 

Nothing stays the same. Flower farms were once prevalent on Federal Highway just as today is the retail sprawl that has taken the place of the farms. Yet many say Costco should be located there because it fits with their perception of what should be built on Federal Highway. Current plans have Costco located on Kanner Highway by Cleveland Clinic.

 

Others feel sorry for the family that owns the nursery on Kanner Highway. Rarely mentioned is the fact that the family sold most of the land that is currently being developed along that stretch of road. I guess farming or having a nursery is not as economically viable as land speculation.

 

Then there are those who claim that the now 6-lane Kanner Highway is a residential street not suited for anymore development. They forget that at one time the new development on the block was Riverland and there was not anything else. The condos, housing communities, fast food joints and other retail have been added over the past few decades.

 

Costco is the latest excuse being used by those who want to pull up the draw bridge after they arrive. What they are not understanding is that to control development, you need to allow development to in fact occur. It must happen is a very systematic way to prevent the sprawl that has enveloped our neighboring counties.

 

The best way to do just that is by providing density within an urban core. The City of Stuart and the county’s CRAs are the place to allow this to happen. Trying to keep Stuart or other urban core areas the way they were (again provide your own year) is not possible. All that will do is encourage growth in every direction without a central plan.

 

Two recent examples of just what I mean were the BOCC approving most of Christ Fellowship’s campus to be sold to a builder for hundreds of new homes. Last week, they allowed a swap of an agricultural parcel for an industrial one on Kanner at 96th Street to make way for a possible e-commerce warehouse. This to me is the real danger which is sprawl without any corresponding benefits.

 

Good planning is the continued development within the City of Stuart limits and the CRAs. As a county we will grow, and it will probably continue to be at the approximately 2% annual increase that we have had historically. Do we do that by filling in the blanks within the Urban Services Boundary (USB) and in our towns or by building more and more single-family homes on 2 or 5 acre lots encroaching on more and more ranches and farms.

 

Every time that type of development is approved, it places additional pressure on the surrounding agricultural lands to do the same. Residential development demands more infrastructure, schools, and retailers such as a Publix to service the new residents. This is classic sprawl.

 

Whether or not Costco is built is not germane to the argument being made. At issue is how Martin County plans the future.

 

If the Costco proposal is denied, something will go on the proposed site at some point and it will not be a farm or a nursery. It will certainly not be a development of single-family homes. Development should be encouraged where you have the infrastructure already in place. All manner of housing needs to be built to accommodate all our residents.

 

The question is not whether a Costco will be built but rather how will future Martin County be developed. The answer is not to say no to all growth but to have a plan for how we do develop and then to follow the plan.

 

There Is More Good Than Bad

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We had a fairly good run in not having discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River in 2019 and the summer of 2020.

 

That run of luck may be over now that the Army Corps of Engineers began releasing water last week. The Corps waited until the lake tipped at over 16 feet. We have not had an algae bloom in Stuart since the disastrous 2018 year. Will we have one now? It is not clear yet.

 

This week in TC Palm, it was reported that “Microcystin, a common toxin found in cyanobacteria, commonly called ‘blue-green algae,’ can linger in the air for 2 hours and travel up to 10 miles on gentle breezes of 4-7 mph, according to a new study by a team of scientists at the University of Florida.” Is that in our future?

Fingers are already being pointed at the Corps and SFWMD. Yet what good will finger pointing do to alleviate this problem? We have had one wet rainy season without a hurricane. The Lake acts as the reservoir for the agricultural lands to the south. It is full and, at least for the time being, those farms will not require much water. It is likely we will have releases for a while.

 

Is it all bad news? No, it isn’t. The C-44 reservoir and STA will hold 50,600-acre feet of water captured from local runoff and if necessary, from Lake Okeechobee. Jacquie Thurlow Lippisch, our representative to SFWMD, told me that STA can treat 46 billion gallons of water each year and remove more than 45,000 pounds of phosphorous.

 

I do not want to see from our local officials any more finger pointing, threats of lawsuits, or other failed tactics of division. As a state, a region, and a county, our elected officials need to be allocating and pushing for money. Money to build and finish the projects needed to stop our ecological disaster.

 

We keep hearing about the federal government finally getting serious about infrastructure spending. Florida water projects are infrastructure. They are more important to us than roadways, airports, or bridges. Without a resolution to our environmental problems, our future is bleak.

 

It doesn’t matter how much you want development; it is not possible without a solution to this problem. If you want to keep Florida with open spaces, you can not have that either without a solution. The Corps, District, and State of Florida want this problem solved as much as we in Martin County do and that is true of the people who live and work north, south, and west of the lake.

 

Now is the time to pull together to seek billions of dollars to make Florida livable into the future. Along with climate change and resiliency, we must address this issue together. If we alienate potential allies in this fight, the war for our future may be lost.