How Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie Co. are working to balance booming growth

Between April 2023 and April 2024, Port St. Lucie grew by about 14,000 people.

Much of that growth has been in the western part of the city, but developers are also lining up at the city's edge in unincorporated St. Lucie County.

WPTV looked into the push and pull between city and county to make sure residents don't get caught in the middle.

Signs are currently posted along Range Line Road that say water and sewer service is coming. And with this infrastructure going in, can homes be far behind?

At a seven-hour meeting that went into the wee hours of Wednesday morning, St. Lucie County commissioners took up three major rezoning proposals.

"Off of Range Line Road is where some of this county development is taking place," St. Lucie County spokesman Erick Gill said.

About 2,000 homes could eventually be built on the parcels of land located just outside the Port St. Lucie city limits.

The construction was initially approved years ago. City leaders are stressing the importance of collaboration on major projects that straddle the border with the county's jurisdiction.

"We can't tell the development community — who already has those rights — that they have to stop building," Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin said at the meeting.

"The growth that has come to St. Lucie County is from Port St. Lucie," replied outgoing St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky at the meeting. "A lot of folks who come here think they live in Port St. Lucie County."

Dzadvosky said the county commission is often unfairly cited for too much growth.

Martin said city and county staff working with the developers on the Neill Farm Estates and Palermo Estates proposals got some traffic mitigation measures that would involve getting some road improvements done faster.

While those two zoning requests were approved at this week's meeting, a third called Rainbow Groves was postponed.

The Rainbow Groves developer was proposing some type of industrial use on the site.

Martin was out of town Wednesday, but texted WPTV reporter Jon Shainman that she was glad Rainbow Groves was voted down in its current form to "give more time for a thorough traffic analysis to be done by our staff."

"[It's important] to make sure that we're planning in the best way possible to have the least amount of impact on the residents," Port St. Lucie city spokesman Scott Samples said.

A decision on the Rainbow Groves project by the county could come next month.

Matt Sczesny is determined every day to help you find solutions in Florida's coverage collapse. If you have a question or comment on homeowners insurance, you can reach out to him any time.

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