Port St. Lucie, county officials seek to cool tensions over Oak Ridge Ranches development

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — The Port St. Lucie City Council and St. Lucie County commissioners hope to collaborate on a large housing development that already has become a point of contention.

A date and location for a joint meeting has not been set, but one appears to be in the works, spokespeople for both the city and county said Tuesday.

Oak Ridge Ranches, which could include at least 8,600 homes, risks creating conflict between the city and county. The two entities have seen improvement in their relationship in recent years, Mayor Shannon Martin said during a council meeting last month.

"We have two new administrations, and where there may have been some issues before, (we) have the city and county working together, more so than I feel ever before," Martin said.

Still, unique aspects of Oak Ridge Ranches present new challenges that could test that progress.

The development, the largest in St. Lucie County in at least a decade, would be in an unincorporated area and would border Port St. Lucie at two points along Glades Cut Off Road. City Council members worry the thousands of residents would put significant strain on city roads and other infrastructure but would pay no taxes to the city.

When Martin and other city officials attended a Sept. 19 County Commission meeting, tensions were clear. No action was taken on the development, as it was pushed back to a later date, but Martin rose to address the commissioners.

"This is in the spirit of cooperation. This is to demonstrate our concerns to you regarding the city's most important infrastructure, which is our roadway network," Martin told commissioners. "We are hopeful that this additional time allows for all impacted parties to work together. The city doesn't oppose development, of course, but we want to be sure that city residents won't bare the financial burden of infrastructure improvements necessitated by development outside of the city."

Martin added that the city is "extremely concerned" by a number of applications for development in the county along the western city limits. The city and county "should continue to work together" to address these concerns, Martin said.

The county has cooperated with the city thus far throughout the process, Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky said in response to Martin's statement, citing a number of meetings and correspondences between the two staffs.

"I've just laid out some things that I just think need to be understood. The public doesn't always understand these things, and to put one agency against another, I think it's not really in the best interests of the (public)," Dzadovsky said.

Martin later spoke again, after Dzadovsky acknowledged that he "might have gotten a little defensive."

"The first phrase of my opening statement was 'in the spirit of cooperation,' and we have been cooperating, and we are going to continue to do that," she said. "So to hear that there is an agency being pitted against an agency, that is completely false and that is not what I said at all."

Less than a week later, the City Council discussed authorizing staff "to take all actions necessary to preserve the city’s rights and interests."

Martin, who repeated the phrase "spirit of cooperation" multiple times, said the city's concerns need to be addressed before the county looks at the project again.

"I can't think of a more important issue right now than dealing with these impacts," Martin said.

Councilmember Stephanie Morgan took issue with authorizing staff to "take all actions necessary."

"I've always been the type of person that I stay in my lane, and this is a county project and I don't think the county is going to do anything to hurt the city," Morgan said, adding that she understands being careful as well.

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Martin later again brought up the incident with the county commissioners, saying the city needs to protect its interests before further discussions take place.

"After I sat down the first time we got accused 'This is an agency against agency fight.' I did not say that, and I couldn't believe (it). I'm just being really open and transparent," Martin said.

Ultimately, the council agreed that it would have the final say on any actions taken.

The County Commission is next expected to consider a site plan for the development 6 p.m. Oct. 12.

Wicker Perlis is TCPalm's Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at wicker.perlis@tcpalm.com and 504-331-0516.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: See what PSL and St. Lucie County leaders say about working together