Treasure Coast
Martin County Projects
We have been very involved over the years in advocacy and legal challenges concerning changes to the Martin County Comprehensive Plan, representing clients seeking to maintain the strengths of that plan related to protecting the high quality of life that makes Martin County so special and attractive.
ELC recently assisted the Haney Creek Greenway Group (HCGG) in preventing the City of Stuart and Martin County from building a four lane county road (the “Green River Parkway”) on several acres of state funded conservation land in northern Martin County. The land, which the City of Stuart purchased under the Florida Communities Trust Preservation 2000 program, is part of the Haney Creek Watershed Improvement project. This conservation project provides habitat for a number of federal and state listed species and offers numerous water quality benefits to the nearby St. Lucie River. In November 2007, the City of Stuart offered to sell the land to Martin County and refund the proceeds of the sale to FCT in order to construct the Green River Parkway extension. ELC worked with HCGG and other conservation groups in opposing the proposed land sale and provided
extensive comments to the FCT. Following a public hearing on the matter in Tallahassee, which included presentations by HCGG, ELC and 1000 Friends of Florida, the FCT Board unanimously rejected the proposed sale. The Board concluded, among other things, that the proposed sale would set a “dangerous precedent” for the future of state conservation programs (such as the Florida Forever Program). The Board’s rejection of the proposed land sale hopefully marks the end of the proposed Green River Parkway southern extension and enables HCGRP, nearby landowners, local leaders, and the FCT to develop a Greenway linking the Haney Creek conservation area to the nearby Savannas State Preserve. For years, the County’s road plans precluded interested stakeholders in developing the greenway because the planned road alignment would have fallen within the footprint of the greenway. With this road project now out of the way, HCGG and others look forward to finishing this final component of the Haney Creek project. When completed, this greenway will offer a multi-use recreational path and wildlife corridor linking Haney Creek with the State Preserve.
The Everglades Law Center is closely following Martin County’s Rural Land Patterns Study, which is reviewing alternatives for land use policies in the County’s western, rural and agricultural lands. We seek to utilize our expertise in land use law, property rights law and Everglades restoration to advocate a strict approach for maintaining these areas in their current land uses and against moving the County’s urban boundaries. This study has important implications to the County’s quality of life and for the restoration of the Indian River Lagoon area. ELC recently prepared a
position paper and legal and policy analysis on this study.
The Indian River Lagoon Restoration Project has been a major focus of our work. We assisted local residents in opposing a major urban development on the Harmony / Foxchase lands, and successfully advocated for the denial of a federal wetlands permit that would have allowed the destruction of wetlands that are important to this restoration project. We continue to work with local groups and organizations in Washington, D.C. to obtain funding from Congress for this restoration project. For more information, see our
2004 comments to the Army Corps of Engineers.
In 2005, we had filed a
Complaint challenging the Federal Highway Administration’s failure to comply with environmental laws before authorizing and funding a $29.4 million road “armoring” project along thirteen miles of Indian River Drive in St. Lucie County. FHWA violated NEPA by not first preparing an environmental impact statement, or at a minimum an environmental assessment (“EA”), to assess the environmental impacts of this project. Moreover, FHWA violated the APA when it acted arbitrarily and not in accordance with the law in determining that the road project was “categorically excluded” from NEPA documentation. A limited number of repairs are “emergency repairs” eligible for a categorical exclusion and the project has significant impacts on the ecological, recreational, and economic values of the
Indian River Lagoon System and Estuary. In June 2007 Indian Riverkeeper and the Federal Highway Administration reached a settlement agreement, wherein the Federal Highway Administration has agreed to conduct a comprehensive study of the Indian River Lagoon and the armoring project’s effects on the estuary:
Victory Press Release.
Much of our work in Martin County has focused on protecting the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. In 2002, we settled lawsuits we had filed to oppose the “Lost River” project by agreeing with the County and developer to modifications to the project that will reduce impacts from the development, by improving drainage and buffers and reducing the number of houses and boat docks by more than 20%. As part of the deal, the County also adopted good, formal procedures for handling "property rights" lawsuits by landowners and developers. The challenged approval had resulted from such a settlement. We also brought and settled a legal challenge to the “Kanner Crossing” project, under which modifications were made to this commercial project to protect the adjacent residential neighborhood.
Our legal challenge to the “Mixed Use” comprehensive plan amendments in 2003 resulted in a settlement agreement. This amendment would have allowed, with very few exceptions, every Industrial, Commercial or Residential use in almost any land use category in the County. Most dramatically, it would have allowed such development outside of the Urban Services District and in the very areas of western Martin County that government agencies and the environmental community are attempting to preserve and purchase - such as the Indian River Lagoon project lands and areas near Lake Okeechobee. In response to the litigation and the significant publicity generated thereby, the County Commission agreed to all but repeal the amendment, allowing "mixed use" only in clearly designated "zoning overlay" portions of Community Redevelopment Areas, and under improved standards for buffers, compatibility, and uplands preservation. The result of tough, knowledgeable substantive negotiating within the litigation framework was better than any we could have achieved as a result of the litigation alone and was worth the significant expenditure of lawyer time and resources.
One of our more noteworthy cases,
Pinecrest Lakes v. Shidel, set a state-wide precedent and garnered much attention around the state, after an appeals court upheld the trial court’s ruling that apartment buildings built in violation of the county’s comprehensive plan must be demolished. Subsequent to the final court rulings, the buildings were demolished. A previous ruling in the case – styled
Poulos v. Martin County,
set the state-wide precedent which guaranteed citizens a full trial before a judge when they challenged development orders as being inconsistent with comprehensive plans.
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St. Lucie County Projects
Local Wetland Protection
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