Yesterday there was a joint meeting between the City of Stuart and Martin County to discuss the Brightline Interlocal Agreement. In and amongst the conversation was a lot of rhetoric about how the County and City need to work together.
The situation with Brightline needs to be addressed but let’s look at a pressing and concerning issue we need to jointly solve. And we can talk about the absurdity of overdevelopment and annexations later, but let’s talk about the very real situation about water.
On Monday 3/10/2025, the City of Stuart City Commission is scheduled to discuss the consumptive use permit it has with South Florida Water Management District.
For the record, each municipality and most large developments submit a consumption permit to their respective water management district.
A 2023 Florida Department of Environmental Protection Water Plan presentation stated: “The water resource development component is where regional water resource management is formulated and implemented. Without these planning efforts, the districts project that existing sources of water will not adequately meet the reasonable-beneficial needs for the next 20 years.”
To be clear, there is not one aquifer and water supply for the county and one for the city nor is there a separate one for Indiantown.
Bringing it local
Harbor Grove is a City of Stuart project that was annexed in from the County explicitly so it could be developed.
They’ve had documented water pressure issues in 2024 in April, May, June, August, September, and December.
And just yesterday on March 6, they received another notice about water service issues. The email states “Our maintenance team is assessing the matter internally; however, the issue originates outside our community.”
It’s a City parcel but it’s to the south of Indian street.
So, the argument is that it’s not the City’s problem because it’s a Martin County utility. But it’s a City parcel so it *is* a City problem. But, it’s not because it’s on the south side of Indian street.
In the meantime, Terra Lago in Indiantown was approved for development. They have a water consumption permit with SFWMD but it’s not enough. In January, it was noted that Indiantown now recognizes they need a solution to supply water.
So is it an Indiantown problem or is it a County problem?
Now add in all of the Rural Lifestyle projects approved but yet to be built and their needs.
Then add the pending 35.07 acre project in the City that was annexed from the county that includes a car lot, commercial properties, and 249 residential units that still needs approval.
And then add to the calculation all of the other projects approved but without a certificate of occupancy so they don’t “count” and also add all of the other development projects with pending applications.
What's the solution?
On September 5, 2024, Florida Tax Watch wrote “Florida will not be able to sustain the continued level of growth it has seen over the recent years without dramatically improving how it selects and funds water projects.”
One solution is to limit development. But that won’t happen. Though places like Phoenix do just that.
Another option is to have developers pay for reverse osmosis treatment plants to support their developments. But that won’t happen either.
Yet places like New Mexico have action plans to proactively address it.
Why are we not following these or any best practices?
Blindly approving developments while passing the buck does nothing for our community members.
We end up literally paying for the solution.
So maybe instead of throwing tax dollars behind a private public partnership with no actual private investment supported by no economic feasibility study…
Maybe we consider investing in the sustainability of our community that has a real and meaningful impact.