With quality of life threatened by growth near Sebastian, Vero Beach, new ray of hope seen

Regular readers might know I’m not thrilled with the way Indian River County has been growing.

Drive on our roads, about to get more crowded as our winter visitors return.

Chug a bottle of Indian River Lagoon water (DON'T!).

Try to find a firefly or a nice home most young families can afford.

Things could be much worse, but the more we let things slide, the more we could end up looking like other former Florida paradises that have fallen prey to greedy out-of-town developers and other woes.

Last week, though, I saw a glimmer of hope for Indian River County.

Sebastian, Indian River County leaders meet

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I didn’t know what to expect heading to the North County Library in Sebastian Thursday for what was a rare and potentially seminal meeting of the Indian River County Commission and Sebastian City Council.

Rare, because the only joint meeting of the two bodies I could find in Press Journal records occurred in January 1982. That meeting was slated a month after Circuit Judge G. Kendall Sharp ruled for the county that Sebastian improperly annexed 97 acres of what was called "Duck Pointe," subsequently developed on the east and west sides of U.S. 1 near Barber Street.

Seminal, because 10 elected officials chatted in an incredibly focused, constructive and collaborative fashion for two hours with an eye toward uniting to help Sebastian-area residents.

Notably missing was snide, hyperbolic commentary from former longtime Sebastian council member Jim Hill, whose unapologetic 2022 rant was embarrassingly counterproductive:

“I’m telling you people from Indian River County, whether it be staff, commissioners, are liars,” he said at a meeting at which his council discussed a suggestion from member Bob McPartlan to communicate with the county and others over a proposed annexation of 1,984 acres south of County Road 510.

Septic tanks a unifying issue

Ultimately, the city was way more transparent in its second, successful try to annex Graves Brothers property. Still, it faces a legal challenge from the Pelican Island Audubon Society.

Last week, however, with a framework hashed out by Commission Chairman Joe Earman, Mayor Fred Jones and their respective staffs, members were frank, but polite, heeding a key reminder from Tom Lanahan, executive director of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, who facilitated the meeting.

“We all actually want the same thing,” he said at the outset. “We all love our communities or we wouldn’t be here.”

The first topic discussed — how the county, Sebastian’s utilities provider, would handle a 2023 legislative mandate in House Bill 1379 to all but phase out septic tanks around here by 2030 ― showed how critical collaboration is. The hope is working together will protect the lagoon and mitigate costs for property owners.

Sebastian has been trying to rid its lagoon-front of septic tanks, but has been unable to get grants because it doesn’t own the utility, council member Ed Dodd said. The group decided to make that effort a joint priority.

The bigger challenge is up to 12,000 septic tanks elsewhere in the city that would have to be upgraded or converted to sewer. Connecting to sewer would a) force the county to add sewage capacity and b) cost property owners an estimated $7,500 for work on their property. Meantime, the utility would have a huge investment, too, and pass along those charges to ratepayers, according to the Sean Lieske, the county’s utilities director.

While the county will hire a consultant to devise a master utilities plan to set priorities, it also might be wise to create an intergovernmental committee to shepherd through such a massive initiative countywide.

Decades ago, the county created temporary committees to review development patterns along State Road 60 and 510. A similar committee could be set up to meld land-use visions for vacant property along city-county borders.

Future of Indian River Drive, North County Regional Park

The priority, Dodd said, should be Indian River Drive, where the city’s gem, an old fishing village-type area, is threatened by what the county allows to be built to the north and south.

The impetus: a proposal, under review by the county, to build a 96-room Home2 Suites by Hilton just south of the city limits on the lagoon. More than 3,600 people have signed a petition opposing the hotel.

Other key borders officials proposed to discuss were along county roads 512 and 510 and U.S. 1.

I’d propose another one, which drew some discussion Thursday: Old Dixie Highway south of 512, which would become a dead end if a railroad crossing at the south end is closed in several years as proposed.  

I could see the city taking over the road and encouraging development of a walkable commercial area to keep nearby residents from having to go to U.S. 1 to eat and do other business.

The last topic on the agenda was the most fun. As part of a master recreation plan the county will start putting together this week, it wants Sebastian’s feedback into what amenities the north county needs.

Could, for example, the county and city collaborate on projects for North County Regional Park?

Prom, lazy river Sebastian-bound?

While the devil is in the details, Sebastian council members liked the idea of having a version of the county’s Intergenerational Recreation Center on Oslo Road.

Council members Chris Nunn and Kelly Dixon pointed out something I’d never thought about: the concern of north county parents who send their children to big events, such as proms, in Vero Beach as opposed to down the street. Even playing recreation basketball can be a long drive.

Nunn pitched a lazy river pool, eliminated from the original north county aquatic center plans years ago.

I saw exemplary leadership last week from Earman, who campaigned three years ago with a pledge to work closer with cities. The commission will have a similar meeting with Vero Beach in October. Jones and Lanahan stood out Thursday, too.

I returned to Vero Beach excited about what I’d seen, perhaps, other than during a hurricane, the most intergovernmental collaboration and desire to serve constituents as I have in a long time.

It’s something I hoped would happen when I started proposing open intergovernmental board meetings in the 2000s.

In 2019, I urged the county to meet with cities about sewer issues, and potentially work with Vero Beach. The city had just affirmed it would move its sewer plant off the lagoon and build a new one.

In a 2007 editorial, we wrote, amid a 22,000-acre Fellsmere annexation, opposed by the county and Sebastian, that collaboration was the only way forward.

“Provincially driven agendas can only hobble greater Indian River County, and shortsighted vision typically creates long-term problems.”

Those long-term problems, from growth to the environment, are affecting our quality of life, and will only get worse if we do not work together to resolve them.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.

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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Growth, pollution loom: United Indian River County leadership critical