Salerno, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound. Please- learn from Palm City’s ridiculous blunder and don’t make our mistake.

Today, the Martin County Commission voted 3 to 2, to acquire 6 acres of land within the CRA at a whopping $4 million PRE INTEREST. The likely final bill will fall closer to $5- $5.5 Million, depending on interest rate locked in. Assuming a 7% mortgage, the final bill for this land will be $5.7 Million. This is to be divided amongst the 26,000 residents of Palm City.
That is a tax hike of over $200 per person, to finance this blunder alone.

Why? That’s a good question, even the commission does not know what they will do with this land. All they know is that they had no other options to avoid accepting responsibility for their poor forward planning. The CRA has a clear set of guidelines, and in typical governmental fashion, the goal post was moved when the commission was unhappy with their opponents forward progress. Speculation of land usage was so varied, and suggestions so vague that county legal and the county administrator had to remind the BoCC that their motion of beneficial land use was centered on an STA/water quality type usage. The cheerleader of the land acquisition process continued to move the goal post as other commissioners voiced concern. It wasn’t until after the prospect of a defeat became evident that any conversation of a possible future liquidation of acreage entered the conversation.
It’s hard to image much land left to sell if you have under 4 acres to use and are pigeonholed to a STA/water quality type project. Then again, even that usage is up for debate.

In the meantime I did a little digging. Utilizing the subject property as a focal point, I reviewed property in less than a 1-mile radius, and found the following:

Approximately 207 acres of land are currently utilized for water storage purposes. The volume of this is within the mandated master plans of the many homeowners’ communities in the “old palm city” CRA vicinity. For context, a 1-mile radius is approximately 2010 acres. 10% is the number of acres that are currently in water storage.

I don’t mean to suggest I am anti-water quality projects. Nor am I pro-development.

I am pro Common Sense. I recognize that these four usable acres, purchased at almost $1million an acre, is a foolish investment. The usability for water storage, especially in the particular environment it is located, is negligible at best. The prospect of liquidating any of this land to recoup lost funds is non-existent. The suggestion that it is a possibility is purely misdirection.

The worst part of all this, is the complete lack of regard for you and me- the taxpayer. We have not only spent over $5 million we don’t have, but we have set a precedent that you can build what you want or ask the county to buy you out.

Salerno, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound- learn from Palm City’s mistake: don’t make a foolish and expensive end run. Instead- demand that we review our CRA and development plans. We must have cohesive, and logical future land usages. We can’t continue to make special exemptions or fly by night expansions to accommodate immediate desires. We in Palm City are stuck with a costly bill to cover our commissioners’ flawed decision-making processes.

Salerno, J.B., Hobe Sound.

It’s too late for us, but not for you. Remember the 5 P’s: “proper planning prevents poor performance”.