On Tuesday, September 24th, the Governor and his Cabinet denied a request by Harmony Ranch (Harmony) to approve the creation of a 
Community Development District (CDD) for Harmony’s proposed project.
We thank the citizens and the many citizen groups including the Hobe Sound Concerned Citizens Coalition, 1000 Friends of Florida, The Everglades Foundation, the Town of Jupiter Island and all the other municipalities in Martin County, and our legislative delegation, including Senator Gayle Harrell, who took the time to contact the decision makers.
We thank Governor DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, who summed up the petition with the following observation:
“This proposal goes against everything that my Department and I stand for. If we allow this active working agricultural land to be developed, it will be lost forever. It will be lost to conservation. It will only increase pollution, traffic, urban sprawl and negative impacts to both the community and to the environment.”
She also noted her office’s email inbox was flooded with emails against the creation of the CDD.”
After hearing argument from the Jupiter Island Attorney that the project neither satisfied nor proved the 6 required factors, it was a unanimous decision to turn down the project.
You can watch the meeting on “The Florida Channel” by clicking the blue box below:
The Harmony petition begins at 01:34:12 (one hour, thirty-four minutes in) and runs approx. 25 minutes.
Once again, we thank you for a successful collaborative effort!