Agenda Review BOCC 7/9

July 8, 2024

The Martin County Board of County Commissioners will approve four development proposals at Tuesday’s meeting and will approve non ad valorem and solid waste assessment resolutions without public discussion or explanation.


Development proposals that will be presented for approval include a plat for a residential subdivision to be built by D.R. Horton on SW Kanner Highway north of SW Tropical Avenue called Twin Oaks - formerly called Kanner Oaks.


Agenda Item DPQJ-1 will authorize the new D.R. Horton project to proceed with a 28-unit subdivision on 16.86 acres near the Florida Turnpike overpass in Stuart.


Other development approvals on Tuesday’s agenda include:


  • Final site plan approval for the West Jensen P.U.D., Phase 1, to construct a 5,300-square-foot car wash on 1.77 acres of vacant land on NW Federal Highway near Golden Rod Road in Jensen Beach (Agenda Item DPQJ-2);


  • Agenda Item PH-1 to approve an amendment to the Future Land Use Map to designate a .13-acre abandoned right-of-way at the intersection of SE Vulcan Avenue and SE Athena Street in Hoe Sound for CRA Center use (up to 15 units per acre); and


  • Agenda Item PH-2 to adopt an ordinance amending the Land Development Regulations, Community Redevelopment Code, to re-zone the abandoned right-of-way at SE Vulcan Avenue and SE Athena Street as CRA Center Subdistrict.


On the Consent Agenda, which is approved by a single vote at the beginning of the meeting without public explanation or discussion, Commissioners will approve a resolution to adopt special assessment rolls for capital improvements in North River Shores, Sugarhill, St. Lucie Shores/Tiburon, Palm Brook Court, Old Port Salerno, S.E. Gull Lane, Fern Creek, Crane Creek, Orchid Bay, Palm Lake Estates, S.W. Honey Terrace, S.E. Flamingo Drive, S.E. Karin Street, Mack Dairy Road, Hibiscus Park/Paramount Estates, James Villas, Golden Gate, Hideaway Isles, and the Western Extension (Consent Agenda Item CNST-10).


Consent Agenda Item CNST-11 will also be approved without discussion, which is a resolution to adopt solid waste service assessments for each single family dwelling unit in the County for collection, disposal and administrative costs in the amount of $444.69, which is an approximately 5% increase over the current assessment of $421.65. A public hearing will be conducted on August 6, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., in County Commission Chambers.


The Commission will hold a private session at noon to discuss litigation filed against the County and the South Water Management District by Be A Man Buy Land, LLC, seeking access to property in the Pal-Mar subdivision where there have been serious problems of unrestrained firing of weapons from “recreation areas” within Pal-Mar which project bullets onto neighboring residential property in the Trailside Ranch community. The attorney-client session scheduled as Agenda Item DEPT-4 is for the purpose of reviewing the County’s strategy and litigation expenses incurred in defending the lawsuit.


In Item DEPT-3, staff is seeking approval to reallocate some of the County’s $31 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds from completed projects to other eligible projects. The staff-prepared agenda summary is unclear, making it difficult to determine how funds have been expended to date. For instance, it appears that the County chose to spend $2.5 million of the grant funds on park improvements while allocating only $100,000.00 for rental assistance to residents in need of shelter.


In other items on Tuesday’s agenda:


  • The Consent Agenda includes the usual approval of the Clerk’s Warrant, reflecting $30,366,191.00 in expenditures of taxpayer dollars between June 3 and June 23, 2024 without disclosing the payees or the purpose of the payments (Item CNST-2);


  • Also to be approved in secret on the Consent Agenda is a “presentation” by the Martin County Tax Collector of recapitulation of the 2023 assessment roll to reflect discounts, errors, bankruptcies and other unexplained, inexplicable issues related to local tax collections (Item CNST-4);


  • Consent Agenda CNST-7 is a reduction of a $1,264,175.00 code enforcement fine assessed against a property on NW Sunset Boulevard in Jensen Beach to $21,625.00 to be paid to eliminate the County’s lien against the property;


  • Agenda Item DEPT-1 seeks approval of $8 million in contracts over five years for grinder station installation and septic conversion ($3 million to The Lazarus Group, Inc.) and marine services ($5 million to Brothers’ Construction, Inc., Custom Built Marine Construction, Inc., and Commissioner Stacey Hetherington’s private employer, Ferreira Construction Co., Inc.); and


  • Item DEPT-2 will approve applications and receipt of various grant funding and budgetary adjustments, including an item authorizing payment of $100,000.00 to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council for a Western Land Study to be conducted over 8 months to review past planning and options for future protection of the County’s western lands.


The meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday in Commission Chambers at the Martin County Administration Center. Attend in person, watch on MCTV or livestream the meeting from the County website at http://martin.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=24. 


Agenda items may be viewed and downloaded at https://martin.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=35023&GUID=98D7CC54-EF7D-4C4C-8084-1AF34C623D6E


E-mail commissioners about matters that interest you at sheard@martin.fl.us, eciampi@martin.fl.us, dsmith@martin.fl.us, hjenkins@martin.fl.us, shetherington@martin.fl.us with copies to the County Administrator and County Attorney at ddonalds@martin.fl.us and swoods@martin.fl.us.

Feb 26 Rivers Coalition Meeting

March 2, 2026
Gil Smart (VoteWater) and Eve Samples (Friends of the Everglades) updated the February 26th Rivers Coalition meeting on how this year’s legislative session in Tallahassee was going as far as environmental issues are concerned. It wasn’t good news. Gil warned us last month: “If last year’s legislative session’s theme was facilitating sprawl, this year’s is sprawl on steroids.” And since the Republican-controlled legislature can pass anything it wants, at this point the only possible changes in the disturbingly-large number of bad bills in the pipeline are tweaks to the bills. With one possible exception. Some North Florida Republican legislators have voiced concerns about the Everglades water management process. South Florida Republicans haven’t yet, but if they notice the desertions they may be persuadable. The bills are HB 701 and SB 1120. Gil’s bottom line: “Right now the worst bills are all the pro-growth bills like ‘Blue Ribbon Projects’; House Bill 299 is on the House floor but Senate Bill 354 still has to clear the Rules Committee this week, and in both cases it would be helpful for people to reach out to our local legislators and tell them to oppose these bills.” The bad news from Tallahassee doesn’t stop there. Florida Forever, the state’s conservation and recreation land acquisition program which is funded by doc stamps, started in 2001 at $300 million/year. Funding was cut to zero during the Great Recession but rebounded to $100 million in 2018-2023 and then came all the way back up to $270 million last year. Alas; this year the Governor requested only $115 million. Even worse, the Senate wants to appropriate just $35 million for Florida Forever. The House’s number: A Big Fat Zero. Meanwhile, Lake Okeechobee hasn’t seen any serious effects from the drought thus far. It’s currently at 12.26 feet, and it would have to drop below 11 feet for 80 days before triggering any real concerns. The main problem with the lake right now Is actually to the west: The Caloosahatchee River needs fresh water, but the low lake level is preventing it from getting enough. At least the drought is giving the St. Lucie Estuary a breather from discharge threats. -- Walter Deemer, LWVMC Rivers Coalition Representative

January Meeting

February 2, 2026
The featured presenter at the January 22nd Rivers Coalition meeting was Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District Commander Col. Brandon Bowman. He reported: * The Lake Okeechobee management effort is going well. The lake level is currently a near-ideal 13.01 feet. In addition, following last summer’s Lake Recovery Operation, Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (“sea grass”) now covers 20,000 acres of the lake bottom compared with just 3000 acres beforehand. * All stakeholders but one are having their needs met at the present time: The Caloosahatchee River west of the lake isn’t receiving nearly as much fresh water as it needs. * The biggest threat to the St. Lucie Estuary right now isn’t discharges from Lake Okeechobee; it’s polluted runoff flowing into the headwaters of the North Fork. The Corps has several projects underway to address that issue. * The Everglades restoration effort continues moving forward, albeit at a seemingly-glacial pace. To wit: Col. Bowman was happy to announce that the Everglades Agricultural Area projects would be completed five years ahead of schedule – but that still won’t be until the end of 2029. * The big C-44 Reservoir, just north of the St. Lucie Canal in western Martin County, is a key part of the management plan. The reservoir will store runoff and remove phosphorus before discharging the water. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been able to operate at capacity; there’s a seepage issue at one end, and it can only be filled to ten feet compared with its designed fifteen-foot level. The Corps doesn’t think the reservoir will be able to be filled to capacity until 2032. * Finally, Coalition members expressed a great deal of alarm about the Corps’ Engineering Research and Development Center’s plan to develop treatments to remove peroxide and phosphorus from the water. The concern stems from the ERDC’s need to test those treatments, and they have to do the testing in the St. Lucie Canal. There was widespread fear that this could produce harmful results in our canal and our estuary. On the legislative front, Gil Smart, the Friends of the Everglades monitor of the goings-on in Tallahassee, shook his head: “If last year’s legislative session’s theme was facilitating sprawl, this year’s is sprawl on steroids.” A disturbingly large number of bills have been filed that will allow more and more development projects to be subject only to administrative approval rather than, as now, being required to go through a public review process. If these bills pass they will drastically reduce public input on some very big and impactful development proposals -- and completely eliminate it in some cases. As these and other really bad bills get rammed towards the finish line, you will undoubtably be receiving calls for action from your favorite environmental organization. Keep an eye on your inbox. -- Walter Deemer, LWVMC Rivers Coalition Representative

September 2025

September 28, 2025
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