Our county and city will be changing. That is a fact. It is not whether changes will occur but how the changes will occur. We can both anticipate and guide the growth or we can allow for unprepared and ill-conceived plans to happen. Some residents will say that growth is unnecessary and if we just say no it won’t transpire, but that is wishful dreaming. That attitude will only lead to things we know we don’t want such as sprawl.

Stuart is, by definition as a city, a place of greater density than other areas of the county. We should encourage development that will increase our population.  Without population increase, the city will not ultimately be sustainable. While business development is important, it brings very little in new taxes directly to city coffers. Few people realize that sales taxes that are collected in the city do not go to Stuart directly but are re-bated by Tallahassee as a percentage of our population. In effect our businesses collect much more in tax than we receive back.

The city’s sustainability is only assured through residential population growth. That is why I believe it is so important to gear our development toward residential use. That may not always be possible, but that should be our goal. While I want to see Stuart maintain its business friendly reputation, I believe that at this stage of our growth we need to aim to increase our population.

Turning toward the county government, I would like to see a continuation of our slow growth policies in the western part of the county. It makes very little sense to encourage sprawl which will only bring increased taxes to pay for services which are outside the Urban Services Boundary. Inside the USB, new residential and commercial development is needed within a sustainable framework. Density should be allowed within the county’s CRA boundaries. Infill development needs to occur to inhibit sprawl outside the USB.

We live in a wonderful place with caring and thoughtful citizens. It is incumbent on all the elected representatives that they make sure that the best interests of the residents are paramount. This will only occur if we plan for the future in a cohesive manner. Nothing happens in a vacuum. One type of project will result in others being developed to compliment and augment what has already happened. Therefore it is important to remember this principle when we approve new projects.