One more self-storage facility is being proposed to be built in Stuart. It is my understanding that there are three such projects in the development stage in the City with several more being built throughout the County. Along with assisted living facilities, self- storage facilities are our growth industries.

In some ways these facilities are dependent on one another. Americans in general love their stuff. I am no different. The only reason I don’t have a unit, is that I have a guest house that is my office and attic. Just like many, I can’t part with my stuff either.

And, as my wife and I come to the point that we need a little extra help and transition into an assisted living facility, what will happen to my stuff? My kids have already said that they don’t want most of it. Will I then put stuff into a storage unit even though I will by that point no longer ever have those things in my living space again?

Perhaps there is a business opportunity here. A developer can construct a combined self-storage and assisted living facility. You pay one price for both. Your stuff may be only a few feet from your living unit. It could be a Martin County innovation.

Martin County doesn’t have many manufacturing jobs. We are not a center for high tech or low tech…we don’t have much tech. The public and nonprofit sectors are our largest employers. It is nice that we have them and they do contribute to monetary circulation. But they rely on donations and taxes. No new money is entering the County.

If what is being built in our little County are storage facilities for both people and stuff that may be what Martin County will come to be known for. Our governmental policies have not encouraged businesses from locating here. Instead we may become the capital of storage units. We could have the distinction of having the most storage units per capita or the most nursing home beds.

But while both those things are needed, those sectors will not employ all our job seekers nor are they high-paying careers. This can’t be our economic strategy. Could it be because we lack a strategy? Government should not give businesses subsidies for locating within their boundaries.  But a no subsidy policy doesn’t mean government should ignore being business friendly.

Martin County has a level of government services that needs to be maintained. The roads are built, water lines and other utilities are existing, parks, libraries, and first responders already in place. Not spreading out the costs of those services to more people makes them more expensive to those already here. This is where we find ourselves.

If a factory is built and hires 200 people in Stuart or Jensen Beach, will it be required that government hire more people to service those jobs? Probably not since the infrastructure is already in place. However, the taxes that will be paid will go towards lessening the overall tax burden on those already in the County.

What would you rather see being built on that lot? A building employing 200 people or one storing stuff? How we accomplish the former instead of the latter is the question.