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St. Lucie rural land plan moves
forward
Date: September
2, 2005
Edition: Scripps Newspapers
Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News/The Tribune
Byline: Rebecca
Panoff staff writer
The partnership between Adams Ranch and Family
Lands Remembered is closer to becoming a reality
after the St. Lucie County Planning and Zoning
Board on Thursday night voted to approve moving
the Rural Lands Stewardship program forward for
County Commission approval.
The program would give the Alto "Bud" Adams Jr.
family incentives in exchange for protecting a
large portion of their 16,466 acres from development
in perpetuity by allowing them to sell "stewardship
credits" to developer Family Lands Remembered
in return for more density.
The plan would transfer development rights from
Adams Ranch, which is in unincorporated St. Lucie
County west of Fort Pierce, to property known
as Cloud Grove, which is on the St. Lucie/Indian
River county line.
According to the plan, credits will be based
on the quality of environmental resources on the
"sending" property and the market will determine
the value of the credits.
The board had many questions for representatives
of Family Lands Remembered, especially about possible
density of a future development on the Cloud Grove
property. The almost 5,000-acre property is zoned
for approximately 1,200 homes at build-out, but
could have anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 homes
if the Rural Lands Stewardship program is approved.
"This is a rural area, everything you said holds
true if you assume one of those areas is developed
as an urban area. But I'm not sure it's a valid
assumption," board chairman Charles Grande said.
Although some board members were skeptical of
aspects of the plan, board member Ramon Trias
said he thought the idea to create a "town" on
the Cloud Grove property was a good plan for growth.
"If anyone truly likes sprawl and wants to live
in sprawl, we have that option already," he said.
If the County Commission approves the plan, it
will go to the state Department of Community Affairs
for comment. After a DCA review, it will go back
to the commission for final adoption.
- rebecca.panoff@scripps.com
[Last modified May 8, 2005, 13:01:08]
Article published on September 2, 2005 in the
Scripps Newspaper
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