Last week the Stuart Commission kept its word to city residents.

When they voted down the Silverthorne project which needed a land use change to construct 77 town homes, the commission indeed kept its word. If this project had come before the commission last year, it would have been approved in a heartbeat. This is not last year.

Each member of the board (except for Meier) had made a solemn pledge to not approve any new residential development outside the CRA until some of the existing approved projects come online this year. By doing so, the city can see whether we need more future residential projects or not. I would suspect that we do but a short break should not matter.

This does not, however, mean that the commission is now anti-growth. They are pausing residential development outside the CRA for a year so that the impacts that these new projects bring may be evaluated.

Many residents are afraid of a population influx that will change the character of Stuart. While Stuart will see an increase in population, it will not be so great that it cannot be absorbed. The key to keeping population within acceptable limits is to understand the impact our building height restrictions have. With a four-story maximum, you cannot cram enough units into any project to increase the population to Broward, Miami or even St. Lucie County standards.

Most Stuart residents realize that owners of vacant and under-utilized property have a right to develop their land. Within the city boundaries is where this more intense use should occur. I have a real problem with what may be going on with the rural lifestyle amendment to the county’s comp plan for western Martin County.

The one that has not yet fully been explained to the residents yet. There may be unintended consequences that are not being adequately explored. That is where our worries should lie.

There is a small minority of residents that believe no development should ever happen. That is not rational. Nor will their approach of “never” lead to good development practices occurring.

This is best illustrated from the hysteria by a few because of the Kanner CPUD (Costco). It is mostly non-city residents who are trying to stop the mixed-use development from being built. While they have admittedly slowed things down, the likeliness of stopping the project from completion is very low. And why should it be stopped?

It is a 50-acre parcel that was annexed into the city specifically for development. And contrary to what some of the NIMBY group suggest, the annexation did not occur so that single family homes could be built there as it was originally zoned by the county. This was always going to be some sort of mixed used development, and it is proceeding according to plan.

You may have also heard that the property was full of native habitat. In truth, it was an abandoned farm with cars and machinery buried and discarded on site. Unpermitted ponds were dug, and overgrowth had a sprinkling of endangered native plants. Those plants must be protected by the development order.

The owners and developers have a right to seek to develop the land to the highest and best use within the code. They are seeking to do this. Those who would try to prevent it should instead be looking at what is occurring in the county with the rural lifestyle amendment.

Stuart and its commissioners are taking the right approach for now. This is a brief respite before new residential projects are approved outside the CRA. It is inevitable that new projects will come before the commission. They will and should be approved.

For now, I think that it is probably a good idea for residential developers outside the CRA to heed the mindset of the commission. The residents want a break to see what happens. The commission majority has agreed with that. At some point next year, we will see new applications and the commission can look at them with the knowledge of what has come before and their true impacts.