By Lina Ruiz, Treasure Coast Newspapers
August 26, 2022
For background information, read here:
https://theguardiansofmartincounty.com/category/rural-lifestyle-amendment/
MARTIN COUNTY — A controversial land-use designation that’s been on pause amid election season is returning to the County Commission next month with a few changes.
An amended version of rural lifestyle — slated for a final vote by the commission on Sept. 13 — restricts land use next to the county’s urban service districts instead of reaching west near Indiantown and beyond, according to development records submitted to the county this week.
Properties inside the districts have access to water and sewer service and are closer to public facilities, including fire stations and libraries. Critics of the proposal have raised concerns about extending these services outside the current boundary and allowing more intense developments westward.
The new version of the proposed designation would reduce the potential acreage for the land use by 52%, from 26,500 acres to about 12,700 acres, according to developer Tom Hurley of Becker Holding Co. Environmentalists and critics had previously cited potentially affected acreage of at least 130,000.
“We’ve talked with environmentalists (and) largely we’ve been reviewing our notes from all the stakeholders we’ve been discussing this with for six to eight months now,” Hurley said. “We just wanted to distill really a lot of their input into solutions and improvements to the amendment.”
Other aspects and requirements within the original proposal would stay the same, according to Clyde Dulin, county comprehensive planning administrator. This includes:
–Properties of at least 1,000 contiguous acres in unincorporated Martin County would be eligible
–Density on land typically designated for agricultural use could be increased to one unit per 5 acres
–If a project more intense than one unit per 20 acres is approved for a rural lifestyle property, the developer must designate separate property as conservation or an agricultural easement
–70% of the property must be used for open space such as golf courses and polo fields
Rural lifestyle is being proposed alongside luxury residential golf-course community Atlantic Fields. It would consist of 317 single-family homes and an 18-hole golf course on 1,530 acres on the north side of Southeast Bridge Road in Hobe Sound, 1 mile east of Interstate 95.
The proposed land use first went in front of the commission on Feb. 23 and barely passed a 3-2 vote to be sent to the state Department of Economic Opportunity and surrounding municipalities for review. Commissioners Sarah Heard and Stacey Hetherington dissented.
A final vote has been delayed twice since February, and the amended proposal is to return to the commission just three weeks after Heard and Hetherington won re-election in the Aug. 23 primary.
“It was more coincidental that the time worked out the way it did. We were still collecting the feedback that we were receiving,” Hurley said. “I think the politics being settled with the primary election allows for focus to remain on the merits of what we’re talking about.”