Resilient St. Lucie, a steering committee focused on countywide sustainability, ended over six months of public presentations on climate fortification plans this year with the announcement of a new study by next month. That outlook, however, may fall to local governments who could line up for state grant money year after year.
A “cost/benefit analysis” provided by the committee will inform local leaders on “additional land conservation and how to make the best informed decisions” for land use “as development pressures increase,” said Georgia Vince, senior project manager with Stuart-based engineering firm Tetra Tech, in a Dec. 12 webinar.
Much of this analysis utilizes “collaboration across emergency management departments,” said Erin Deady, a certified land planner and lawyer based in Lantana. “It’s now up to the local government jurisdictions to accept the plan and, potentially, start to integrate some of the outcomes into their planning (and) policy processes.”
New sustainability plans could see a budgetary strain on St. Lucie homeowners as the state vies to excise property taxes. Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a $117.4 billion state budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year – similar to the $114.8 billion that Florida currently operates with – Dec. 10, state records show.
Grant money for homeowners to update their property for fortification against extreme climate phenomena – such as heat and flooding – runs against conflicting state environmental policy enacted for over a decade.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection cut 394 jobs, or approximately 19 percent of their workforce, from 2010-24 despite the impact of major hurricanes like Maria (2017), Ian (2022) and Milton (2024), the Orlando Sentinel reported Dec. 11. They added that the state cut around 7 percent of environmental funding during this time, as well.
“I don’t think this plan is asking state legislators to, really, do something,” Deady said of committee operations. The onus of sustainable maintenance, she added, would fall to city and county municipal governments, such as in St. Lucie. “The pressure is going to be on local government to find other funding sources, depending on the outcomes of that legislative discussion.
“If local governments are crunched in terms of their property tax revenue, they may have some budgetary (and) staffing cuts,” Deady said. “Right now, I think that is a higher priority for local governments in terms of being able to implement (these) outcomes.”
Homeowners will also have to consider meeting higher standards in maintaining water on their property pursuant to state Senate Bill 7040, signed June 28, 2024, according to Vince. “That included an increase in meeting water quality criteria. The stormwater rules are more restrictive and people have to retain (more of it) before it’s released off their property,” Vince said.
The high capacity of flood management in St. Lucie remains topical as the committee recommended stormwater projects to field flooding from excess rain or high tides until the year 2100, according to projections by Tetra Tech.
The county would have to incorporate approximately $122.5 million worth of waterway fortification to withstand extreme climate phenomena, alongside flooding, over the next two decades, according to a study the committee presented between Oct. 28 and Nov. 6.
However, floodwater risks factored in “less so for some of the other hazards we looked at like coastal heat, drought, fire and wind,” Deady said. “There could be some opportunities for capacity building to look at those (impacts) that, typically, aren’t delved into as much in these vulnerability assessments.
“All of those recommendations that you would make within emergency management programs are similar to (those) in the adaptation strategy,” Deady said. “Alignment across those programs where we could get dual benefits by achieving one strategy was a good thing, and we identified those opportunities.
“The county has, probably, held more meetings than just about any other project that we’ve been involved in, but that’s a really good thing because the information has, really, been pushed out to the community,” Deady said.
Despite their communications with St. Lucie residents, some saw the committee as sidestepping more high-priority issues, including the continued removal of septic tanks in favor of sewer systems in St. Lucie and elsewhere along the Indian River Lagoon.
“I just don’t feel you understand how important it is for septic systems, which are only (voluntarily being) switched over to sewer, and needs to be made a requirement,” said Diane Goldberg, conservation chair for the St. Lucie Audubon Society. “This is not just a problem for St. Lucie County and their municipalities.”
Goldberg criticized leaders of the steering committee for what she felt was lacking outreach toward other Treasure Coast communities in making their studies.
“You don’t have to live over by the ocean or the lagoon where the overflow will get into our drinking water, as well as the waterways,” Goldberg said.
Inaction toward these replacements may cost homeowners and other facilities access to clean water in the event of climate phenomena damaging plumbing systems, Goldberg said.
“This will happen with every single flood,” she added. “With every stronger storm we have – and it doesn’t have to be a hurricane – this will be a problem of cleanup, and not just of nitrogen and phosphates (fecal matter byproducts).”
“It’s not just the piping, but pump stations that will be required,” Goldberg said, referring to her talks with Port St. Lucie over their ongoing septic-to-sewer conversions enacted since the 1990s. “Prevention is cheaper and much easier for all of us because this problem will harm all of us. I’m strongly suggesting that this be a priority and discussed as more important than it has been brought up.”