Published in The Stuart News, October 28, 2021
Maggy Hurchalla
Written by Maggy Hurchalla
Maggy is one of the original authors of Martin County’s Comprehensive Growth Management Plan
Folks can be excused for paying no attention to local government while we were all trying to keep safe and sane.
But most people came here because they thought Martin County was a good place to live — a place that chose to be different from the rest of South Florida.
That’s because of a comprehensive plan that has strict policies to protect our environment and existing residents and taxpayers. Those policies do not allow commissioners to ignore them whenever they feel like it.
On Nov. 16 four members of the Martin County Commission seem determined to make some drastic changes.
They will tell you nothing is being changed and the only opposition is coming from hysterical no-growthers.
Chapter 2 of the comp plan sets out the overall goals and the important objectives and policies that make it possible to attain those goals.
- ENHANCE AND PROTECT THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR MARTIN COUNTY RESIDENTS
- ENSURE CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
- PROMOTE ORDERLY AND BALANCED ECONOMIC GROWTH THAT PROTECTS THE QUALITY OF LIFE
- PRACTICE PRUDENT FISCAL MANAGEMENT
Those are meaningless promises without specific mandatory policies that actually achieve the goals.
Some county commissioners want to delete all the objectives and policies in chapter 2 except the four-story height limit and the 15-unit-per-acre density limit.
Google Martin County TV and watch the video of the Oct. 5 meeting.
Listening to WHY all these good policies have to be deleted; it sounds like Abbott and Costello in “Who’s on First?”
First, Commissioner Doug Smith explained soberly they have to do this because the state passed a law requiring the county to have a comp plan chapter on private property rights.
Then staff explained the real reason for deleting policies in chapter 2 was they were redundant. They were “addressed” elsewhere in the plan. It would be easier for people to find them scattered through the other 18 chapters than to have them all together up front in chapter 2.
It was just “good housekeeping.”
Then the legal department chimed in and explained that the new state statute DID require removal of the policies in chapter 2. The policies were “problematic” and might result in litigation by developers because they were worded differently and were stricter than policies elsewhere in the plan.
Oops! Who’s on first?
They gave as an example that it was better to delete a stricter policy that required that land use changes to commercial in your residential neighborhood should have “no negative impact.” Instead, the commission could decide if it was “compatible.”
Wouldn’t you rather see the protection up front saying you weren’t going to have the vacant residential land next door rezoned for a gas station if that could have “negative impacts” instead of leaving it to the commission to decide if they thought the rezoning was “compatible?”
Commissioner Ed Ciampi said Commissioner Sarah Heard was a bad colleague for warning people that the chapter 2 deletions would dramatically decrease protections for neighborhoods, environmental resources and taxpayers.
But that is exactly what the deletions do. They remove the objectives and policies that implement the overall goals of the plan, including:
Objective 2.2C: Martin County shall ensure that all official actions of the county support and further a safe, healthy and ecologically balanced St. Lucie River Estuary and Indian River Lagoon, which are natural resources vital to the economy and quality of life of Martin County and the Treasure Coast.
Staff found that “problematic.”
They also found fault with other areas that direct:
- Martin County to limit local tax burdens while funding facilities and services needed to maintain the quality of life and support services necessary for growth.
- New development shall pay the cost of the facilities it requires.
Even if you don’t worry about your neighborhood or your environment, you should care about what these changes will do to your taxes and public services.
The four commissioners who voted for the changes want you to believe that nothing bad is happening.
ONLY YOU CAN CHANGE THAT.
Ciampi says he will ignore protests from “the usual” no-growthers.
Watch the video. Call, write and meet with commissioners.
Only if all the people who like living here get personally involved do we have any chance of changing their minds and saving the Martin County Comprehensive Plan.
Maggy Hurchalla is a former Martin County commissioner and resident of Rocky Point.
Read the column online: Your Turn in Stuart News