Residents along Johnston Road in rural St. Lucie continued to disagree with the rezoning of a neighboring plat at the Oct. 7 County Commission meeting.
The Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 to rezone a 41.23-acre agricultural plat at the 2098 block of Johnston Road. The land is in the unincorporated county between Kings Highway, Angle Road, the L-20 canal and Interstate 95.
Representatives of the District Planning Group presented schematics that evening for a 74-home community after downsizing it from the 82 homes presented at the Aug. 5 meeting, county records show.
The community, if built out, is projected to bring St. Lucie County approximately $1.3 million in tax revenue, according to District Planning Group director Leslie Olson, AICP.
Land formerly dedicated to the eight excised homes was instead occupied by a planned bus stop, mail kiosk, a playground and several recreation areas, schematics show. The plans also removed a proposed hiking trail on the western perimeter upon “resident request.”
They also presented traffic studies drafted Sept. 22 by MacKenzie Engineering & Planning, Inc. of Palm City. Projections estimated 765 daily trips along the property, whose access is isolated to the two-lane Johnston Road. The latest traffic study tracked 76 fewer trips than the 841 projected at the Aug. 5 meeting. In addition, “two-thirds” of the traffic would also be redirected along Angle Road with eventual northward access to Treasure Coast International Airport, county documents show.
It wouldn’t be until 9 p.m., after long deliberations over a South Hutchinson Island pizzeria, that hearings resumed over the Johnston Road plat, which lasted for another hour as they did on Aug. 5.
Some of the same residents present at that meeting stepped back onto the podium, including Darrell Crum. His public comments were mostly a reading of key points itemized in numerous county/developer agreements.
“I think it’s a beautiful plan, but I don’t want it there,” said Crum, a resident of Johnston Road for 38 years. “If you think they meet what (the document) says, it’s on you.”
Nathan Wyatt, 60, spoke after Crum. His 52 years of living there revolved around animal husbandry, which could be compromised if motorists continue using the unpaved road along L-20 for access between Johnston Road and Kings Highway.
“I used to think it was my road until everybody started using it for a shortcut,” he said, adding how limited road access to the proposed community could translate into paving the L-20 road. “There goes my livelihood, right there.”
The tearful anger that informed Wyatt’s discontent on the dais two months earlier ebbed into quieter, withering sarcasm. He stormed out of the county chamber in a fit upon the final vote.
Paula Halupa, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, also returned to the podium to state her ongoing disagreements. Her arguments ranged from the potential to build out airport access roads to the “regurgitation” of points presented Aug. 5, Halupa, 59, said.
Halupa, Wyatt and Crum also attended an informal meeting with District 5 commissioner Cathy Townsend at Nino’s Pizzeria, 2058 Turnpike Feeder Road, Aug. 18. The meeting, Halupa said, was less than ideal.
“It was held in a loud, busy place where nobody could hear each other,” Halupa said. “It was not sincere. For the record, I was not invited to this meeting even though I’m a neighbor.”
In an Oct. 15 interview, Halupa drew attention to existing traffic conditions along Johnston Road. One incident she mentioned happened on Aug. 6 when a non-helmeted motorcyclist crashed and fell head-first into a nearby ditch.
“It didn’t seem like they really updated (it),” Halupa said of the traffic study. “It looked like it was assuming that people didn’t have jobs during peak hours.”
Halupa added that the study likely did not account for possible traffic generated from the much larger 202.2-acre Pineapple Grove development along Angle Road. That community is projected to welcome 404 single-family homes since the County Board approved its construction on Oct. 15, 2024, records show.
Closer to home, Halupa noted the presence of several trees and activity from crested caracaras, a species of scavenger bird found in western St. Lucie.
These observations, to her, contradicted environmental reports compiled by Ecotone Services, Inc. of Jupiter.
“There do not appear to be any wetlands on the project site,” the report said, adding that surface water and swales nearby were ineligible to be considered as wetlands per U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District guidelines.
“I was disturbed when she said, ‘I’m proud of you all,’” Halupa said of Townsend’s commendation of fellow commissioners after the vote.
Townsend did not reply to a request for comment by press time.