ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Voters will decide in November whether to expand the boundaries of the St. Lucie County Mosquito Control District, a change officials say would allow the district to serve growing areas that are currently outside its jurisdiction.
The proposal, House Bill 4011, would increase the size of the district and extend mosquito control services to additional parts of the county.
Roger Jacobsen, director of the St. Lucie County Mosquito Control District, said the district's boundaries no longer align with the county's recent growth.
"The St. Lucie County Mosquito Control District does not share the same boundaries as St. Lucie County. Currently, the district is 333 square miles, and it encompasses most of the most populated areas of the county. This legislation expands the district by 100 square miles," Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen said development has pushed residential growth beyond the district's existing service area, prompting requests from residents who are not currently covered.
"Before, there was a little bit of a buffer between where the boundary was and where all the densest population was. Now, due to, you know, recent developments, everything going on there, it's exceeded the boundary and gone beyond there," he said.
"We've had a lot of residents who have called and wanted to join the St. Lucie County Mosquito Control District. The only way to do that is through a special act of the state legislature."
If approved, the expansion would allow the district to provide the same mosquito control operations in the newly added areas that it currently provides elsewhere in the county.
"We'll be able to provide more treatment to a lot of the people that don't have that luxury. We'll be able to monitor for mosquito-borne disease in those areas. We'll be able to monitor for mosquito abundance in those areas. We'll be able to apply treatments as necessary. It just gives us the ability to better protect the residents of St. Lucie County," Jacobsen said.
In addition to spraying and other treatment efforts, the district conducts monitoring and works with residents to reduce mosquito breeding around homes.
"So you have surveillance and then you have source reduction where you would go and you would tip over birdbaths or you would go and talk to residents about making sure the gutters are flowing and that the dishes are going correctly and that things around the home don't increase the amount of mosquitoes in the area. And then you also have treatments, be it adult treatments or larval treatments where they're in the water," he said.
Should voters approve the referendum, Jacobsen said the district plans to begin expanding services as soon as possible, though additional staffing and resources will be needed.
"Once the referendum passes, we would be trying to deploy as quickly as possible," he said.
"Obviously, there's going to have to be scale-up efforts in order to do that. There will be additional staff required. There will be additional resources required. All of that."