2009/2010 Comprehensive Plan Amendments

The Amendments proposed by the BOCC cannot be supported by a professionally prepared needs analysis, and there is no justification for breaching our County’s Urban Services Boundary by allowing developers to create Essential Service Nodes or any commercial activity in western Martin County, which indeed a majority of residents there do not favor.

The BOCC is preparing to vote on these proposed Amendments on April 13 despite the fact that BOCC staff and Local Planning Authorities have recommended against approval many of them, and that a variety of them are advanced by interests that made campaign contributions in 2008 to several of the Martin County Commissioners.

If the proposed Amendments are approved our taxes will increase, as not only will existing taxpayers be obliged to pay the impact fees associated with new development beyond the Boundary, but to finance the extension of urban services to those areas too.

Furthermore, these developments will contribute to the kind of urban sprawl which characterizes Palm Beach and St. Lucie, the absence of which in Martin has made our County such a pleasant place to live.

Click here to see the county's summary of 2009/2010 Comprehensive Plan Amendments. (.pdf required)

Here is a synopsis of the proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments written by Martha Bennett:

CPA 10-9       Canopus Sound 
Location:   Bridge Road, Hobe Sound, extending from the old TC Wildlife Hospital SE to Jonathan Dickinson Park
Total Acres:  3081
Applicant:  Martha Singh  Rep:  Morris Crady
Planned Development:  RESIDENTIAL In exchange for giving JD Park 500 acres, wants to increase density X4 to 516 homes on 2 and 5 acre lots for equestrian/dressage themed community
Impacts:  NO NEED for more residential; replaces Ag with homes; impacts to ground water with  4x number of septic and wells plus horses vs 20 acre ranchettes; promotes sprawl;  shuts door on future acquisitions for JD Park; changes the rural character of South County and Hobe Sound
Applicant suggests agriculture is inappropriate in this area of Martin County
2008 Campaign Contributions: 500 to Weberman
Staff’s Recommendation/ LPA Vote: Staff recommended denial; LPA voted 4-1 for denial

CPA 10-13 and 10-14    Groves 12
Location: Bridge Road at I-95/Turnpike Interchange
Total Acres: 450
Applicant: Becker Holdings  Rep: Morris Crady and Jack Carmody
Planned Development FREE STANDING INDUSTRIAL URBAN SERVICE DISTRICT AND TARGETED BUSINESS INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT: R+D Park including 180 room hotel and 1000 student college campus; hopes to attract a biotech campus  Could end up being a DRI
Impacts: BREAKS the Urban Boundary by making a freestanding district to be serviced by the applicant’s own utility district, the Hobe St Lucie Conservancy District;  traffic on Bridge Road would increase; removes agricultural lands instead of using existing zoned industrial properties within the USB.
Applicant contends: There are no suitable parcels of currently zoned industrial land within the primary USB, especially in South Martin. There is already a utility district, so a targeted industrial center is the best use for this property.  MC needs high-wage jobs
2008 Campaign Contributions Smith 1000; Ciampi 2000
Staff’s Recommendation/ LPA Vote: Staff recommended denial; LPA voted 2-2 for denial, with one member abstaining due to conflict of interest.

CPA 10-15  Hobe Sound Village
Location US Hwy 1 South of Bridge, between Harry’s and the Pine School
Total Acres: 14.885
Applicant: Palm Bch Capital Consultants/ Jeffrey Gelman, Rep: Brad Currie
Planned Development: General Commercial on entire parcel using a PUD for mixed use Townhomes and commercial.
Impacts No Need for more residential or commercial strip malls at this time.  Immediately next to Banner Lake.  While they discussed with Banner Lake residents, was not brought to the HS NAC or other parts of the community.   Property contains Environmentally Sensitive uplands- possible gopher tortoise habitat; too intense for the size of the property.  Definite traffic impacts, detrimental to the current redevelopment of existing Hobe Sound shopping district.
Applicant suggests: Would allow residents of Banner Lake access to shopping without crossing major roadways
2008 Campaign Contributions
Staff’s Recommendation/ LPA Vote: Staff recommended denial; LPA voted denial with recommendation to change to Limited Commercial

CPA 10-01  St Lucie Partners
Location: Intersection of western Bridge Road and Kanner Highway, the current Calusa Creek Ranch
Total Acres: 3900
Applicant: St Lucie Partners, the Barney family; Rep: Morris Crady
Planned Development: RESIDENTIAL In exchange for providing perpetual conservation easements on 2450 acres, the applicant originally wanted to change to R2 rural density on the remaining acreage increasing the allowed number of homes from 195 to 725, but the property is not within the secondary making this land use inappropriate.  The applicant has submitted a new proposal for 1 home per 5 acres.
Impacts: NO NEED FOR RESIDENTIAL;  proposed preservation area is not completely pristine wetlands and does not abut existing CERP lands or connect to the C44 canal;  impacts traffic in the area; property is only several miles from a proposed extension of the USB at the 7th Edition CPA, and it would be too easy to extend water and sewer here as well.  The developer’s representative Morris Crady sits on the board of the Treasured Lands Foundation which wants to be the third arm of the preservation committee.  Trailside residents immediately to the south support; the residents living directly across the C44 canal oppose.
Applicant suggests The Valliere Amendment does not compensate the land owner enough.  Great public benefit by preserving the southern portion of the property for CERP acquisition.  
2008 Campaign Contributions: Total of $10,500 to candidates and Future PAC by the Barneys, St Lucie Partners and Fall Creek Partners
Staff’s Recommendation/ LPA Vote: Staff recommended denial; LPA voted 4-1 for denial

CPA 10-19 and 10-20  7th Edition
Location: SW side of SW 96th St (Pratt Whitney) and Kanner, on the C44 SW of the Arundel Bridge. 
Total Acres: 492
Applicant: 7th Edition, James Neill  Rep: Houston Cuozzo
Planned Development: EXTENSION OF THE PRIMARY URBAN SERVICE BOUNDARY immediately adjacent across 96th St at St Lucie Falls, Change from Ag to Commercial Waterfront and Industrial. No tenants lined up, no plans to immediately provide the jobs they are promising to create. Only a small piece actually accesses the C44/Okeechobee waterway.
Impacts: BREAKS our USB, huge impacts on traffic, removes land from Ag inventory while creating industrial land that would compete with existing industrial and waterfront land in Indiantown and elsewhere.
Applicant suggests the current inventory of industrial land in Martin is insufficient
2008 Campaign Contributions
Staff’s Recommendation/ LPA Vote: Staff recommended approval, LPA voted to approve

CPA 10-4 and 10-5  Sunrise Groves
Location: Just west of I-95 north of Martin Hwy 714 and directly south of St Lucie Cty
Total Acres: 1700+
Applicant: Consolidated Citrus/King’s Ranch  Rep: Mitch Hutchcraft, with Ken Pruitt as lobbyist
Planned Development: Change from Ag to a new designation AgTec, to include 6.5 million sq ft of industrial/retail and commercial, while keeping a portion cleared for continued Ag use.  
Impacts: Project would BREAK the USB; wants to bring utilities down from St Lucie Cty; would tap the St Lucie Cty labor pool which would take their contributory monies to St Lucie; too far from Martin’s population centers for convenient commuting, leaves existing Martin businesses out of the contributory spending loop; my personal opinion: wishes to retain agricultural property tax exemption while putting intense industrial uses on the property.  Applicant states agriculture is no longer a viable alternative.
Applicant suggests the existing industrial inventory does not contain suitably sized parcels for a development of this magnitude.  We need a regional job corridor. 
2008 Campaign Contributions: $25000 to Your Friends and Neighbors PAC which spent it on campaign advertising primarily for Ciampi; 200 directly to Ciampi, 200 to Smith
Staff’s Recommendation/ LPA Vote:  Staff recommended denial; LPA voted 3-2 for denial

CPA 10-18 and 10-21 Becker B4
Location: NW corner of Martin Hwy 714 and Allapattah Road Hwy 609
Total Acres: 5
Applicant Becker Holdings  Rep: Houston Cuozzo
Planned Development: “Rural Services Node”, providing a convenience store/gas station for currently limited rural audience.  However, sits on a future planned expansion of 609 which connects Indiantown to a planned expansion of Pt St Lucie and potential Inland Port site.
Impacts: Currently most residents in western Martin oppose this idea.  The inclusion of the Nodes in the recent EAR Amendments was found not in compliance by DCA and the BOCC has since repealed this section, however allowed the applicant to go forward with the CPA; public proponents now want to include Bed and Breakfast, which is not currently an accepted use.
Applicant suggests Residents want a gathering place and a cultural center, along with much needed services to control greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate trips for services
2008 Campaign Contributions: Smith 1000; Ciampi 2000
Staff’s Recommendation/ LPA Vote: Staff recommended denial; LPA voted 3-2 in favor.