Within the next dozen years, Martin County will have thousands of units being built.

While Smith, Heard, and increasingly Hetherington have lobbed bombs at Stuart for approving new units within an urban area, the county has with great stealth by the commission decided to create one city and probably a second. I am not speaking about Atlantic Fields or Three Lakes Golf Course. In my opinion, projects like those will save hundreds of acres of open land from development. Sure, the roll out of the “Rural Lifestyle” use was botched but that is imminently fixable.

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

Kiplinger’s Newfield will be a new urban center in Palm City. If it is developed as the now plan suggests, it will eventually have the same population as Stuart currently has. I support it because it is creating mixed use and mixed income housing and jobs within walkable neighborhoods. Not to mention all the open land that will be incorporated into the “town.”

Indiantown is open for business and the sprawl will occur there. The South Florida cookie cutter homes with every family having a car, truck, (and probably several) will happen. Residents that need to go for a quart of milk, be prepared to hop into your car to travel to the new Publix that will be built in a shopping plaza with hundreds of empty parking spaces. Schools, fire/rescue stations, and more will need to be constructed to support the population.

You doubt that Indiantown is becoming known as the next South Florida land development grab. Ask a hedge fund based in West Palm, Miami, or even New York, and they will have heard about the village. Acres that are not even in Indiantown will be annexed in to accommodate the Divostas and Pultes.

The reason the village was incorporated was because the county commission said no to everything from industrial to new homes. Instead of smart development we are likely to get what was feared…any development. See what I mean when a continued no ends up as an unqualified yes.

Could that new motor track we heard about be on county land? Maybe Lakepoint will morph into a track from the current mining operation. Perhaps King Ranch’s or Becker’s lands will be ripe for the track and the ancillary uses such as hotels, fast food joints, and gas stations.

The biggest unknown could be Harmony. That is still a ticking timebomb waiting to go off. The “Rural Lifestyle” could have helped prevent the thousands of homes that may come out of the ground there. While Newfield is an integrated community, Harmony will be a classic 1950s sprawl development.

The mishandling of the new land classification could have been easily prevented. Instead of relying on elites such as the Guardians to sell it, the county should have mounted their own dog and pony show and travelled near and far to explain what “Rural Lifestyle” was and wasn’t. While the supposed movers and shakers usually still win, the people are gaining ground on the good old boys whether moneyed environmentalists or developers.

Lastly, with the mood of the governor and legislators to keep Florida growing, there is no way they will allow a local government to stop the flow of new residents into the state. Florida’s entire way of life needs new blood for the economy to prosper. That means the new residents will need a place to call home.

A continued response of no from Martin County will have Tallahassee declaring a big yes. That of course will strip away even more home rule.