Pivotal meetings ahead for future development plans in western part of Treasure Coast

Next month is shaping up to be a November to remember for people who care about how Martin and St. Lucie counties' rural and suburban lands are developed. At least, the first week of it should be.

On consecutive nights, there are meetings that may help plot a course of inland development in those counties.

On Nov. 1, St. Lucie County officials have scheduled a town hall meeting to give local residents, developers and other interested parties an opportunity to offer their thoughts about the towns, villages and countryside (TVC) component to the county's comprehensive plan.

Benjamin Balcer, director of the county's planning and development services department, said the TVC element, which covers about 14,000 acres in the northwestern part of the county, was added to the comp plan in 2006, then revised in 2007.

A 'new' approach to suburban development

TVC's purpose, according to the county's description, is to establish "a development framework that encourages a sustainable settlement pattern that preserves the rural character of St. Lucie County, protects and enhances the natural environment, preserves open space and increases the quality of life for residents and businesses."

TVC encourages residential development to occur around designated town centers, where people can gather for shopping or recreation. More dense development is supposed to occur closest to the town centers, with homes less tightly clustered away from the center.

It's not really a new concept. "New Urbanism" is a style of development that has existed for decades. Its goals include reducing car trips outside of neighborhoods and encouraging interactions among the people living within those neighborhoods.

However, for whatever reason, the concept hasn't caught on in St. Lucie County. Balcer said there's one TVC project that's still in the preliminary stages of development, but none within the designated area have been completed yet.

Opportunities for public to sound off

The St. Lucie County Commission decided earlier this year to hold town hall meetings about the TVC element to determine if there might be ways to fine tune it and make it more development-friendly.

"We're looking for public input," Balcer said. "If anything (in TVC) needs to change, what does that look like?"

The Nov. 1 town hall meeting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. at the commission chambers, located at 2300 Virginia Ave. in Fort Pierce.

Balcer said the second public hearing date is not yet scheduled. Based on the input received at those two meetings, Balcer said county staff members hope to report back to commissioners with any suggested changes during the first quarter of next year.

Tweaking the TVC ... or gutting it?

I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being worried about where this process might lead. Lennar Homes, one of the companies interested in building in the area, has already suggested adding a "hamlet" provision to the TVC.

If Lennar's amendment is approved, it would allow developers to build fairly standardized cookie-cutter subdivisions around a single commercial business, like a restaurant or convenience store. Obviously, that type of development wouldn't be as effective at reducing car trips and wouldn't create the same type of draw for local residents that larger town centers with more types of businesses would.

So, before the public part of the process has even begun, there's a moment afoot to weaken the TVC element. Unless other meetings are added to the schedule, the Nov. 1 town hall may be one of only two opportunities citizens will have to offer their thoughts about the merits of that type of planning.

The next day ― Nov. 2 ― the Martin County Local Planning Agency is scheduled to hold a public hearing on a request to rezone 1,219 acres along Kanner Highway, north of Bridge Road and about two miles west of Interstate 95 to the "rural lifestyle" land use.

Deja vu with 'rural lifestyle' land use

The Martin County Commission agreed last year to create the new land-use category to allow more intensive residential development outside the county's urban services area. That decision paved the way for construction of Atlantic Fields, a 317-home subdivision and an 18-hole golf course on 1,530 acres on the north side of Bridge Road, about a mile east of Interstate 95.

At the time Atlantic Fields was under consideration, county officials said it would be unlikely many, if any, other developments would be able to meet the requirements needed to develop under the rural lifestyle land use.

Of course, that bit of rationalization never made a lot of sense, because why would they have gone to the trouble of creating a new land-use category if they never expected to use it again?

The Three Lakes Golf Club under consideration at the Nov. 2 meeting would include "three 18-hole golf courses, a practice range and short game practice facilities, two short courses, golf maintenance facilities, two clubhouses and many other features, amenities and activities," according to its website.

While the development doesn't include any full-time residences, there would be "golf cottages that will be owned by the club are proposed for short-term stays and weekend visits. Employee housing is also proposed during peak seasonal use."

The LPA meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Nov. 2 in the Martin County Commission chambers, located at 2401 SE Monterey Road in Stuart. After the LPA has made a recommendation on the proposed land-use change, it will be forwarded to the commission for final consideration.

When I asked Martha Ann Kneiss, the county's senior communications coordinator, how many other proposed rural lifestyle cases might be heading to the commission in the months ahead, she said the question was "speculative." Read into that whatever you want.

If you live in Martin or St. Lucie County and worry about what the outlying parts of the community are going to look like in a few years, these meetings may be worth checking out.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at bfontenay@gannett.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: St. Lucie, Martin hold key meetings about development of rural areas