STUART — Stuart voters will decide in November whether a roughly two-acre parcel connected to Haney Creek should remain available for commercial use or instead be converted to conservation.
The city previously put the land before voters in 2011 as part of a plan to generate revenue for Haney Creek Preserve. City Attorney Lee Baggett said changing that decision requires another referendum.
"Back in 2011, we put this issue out to the voters and they voted to lease out this approximate two-acre parcel for commercial purposes to help fund the Haney Creek Preserve. In order to undo that, we've got to go back to the voters to seek rescission of that prior referendum and instead to convert the two acres into conservation," Baggett said.
Interest in the parcel intensified earlier this year after the city received an unsolicited proposal to build a racetrack there. The proposal prompted questions from commissioners about whether commercial development remains the best use for the property.
Commissioner Laura Giobbi said development patterns have changed since the original 2011 referendum and raised concerns about additional commercial development along one of the city's main streets.
"At that period of time [2011], it seemed like that might be a good idea, but in those years what has happened is the amount of development that has happened, I don't think anyone wants to see another gas station, another Wawa, another car wash or whatever sitting on the corner of one of our main streets. And we're also wanting to save some green space. We could add this back into Haney Creek and enjoy it, everyone could enjoy it, but again, it comes down to the fact that this is a decision that needs to be made by the people who live here," she said.
Commissioner Campbell Rich raised a different concern, saying the city should consider the potential financial consequences as property tax reform looms.
"Until we know whether we could face the loss of millions of dollars a year in ad valorem revenue, this is just premature for us to take an alternative revenue source away from the citizens and deny some tax relief. There's no hurry, nobody wants to lease this," he said.
Residents who addressed the commission were also divided over the parcel's future.
Emily Lanthier said preserving the property could protect habitat she considers environmentally significant.
"There has never been an environmental assessment done, and I think it's very important as it has a lot of upland habitats, it has scrub, they're endangered habitats which also contain the now critically endangered gopher tortoise. Within the year they went from vulnerable, critically endangered, lost 80% of their population due to habitat loss," she said.
David Kellman said he supports keeping the parcel available for commercial use if it can generate revenue for Haney Creek.
"If that parcel right there could generate money for Haney Creek, I don't see two acres of land on US1 doing anything. You're going to still have coyotes running across US1, you can still have bobcats and every other thing. If it doesn't affect trails or dog parks or any other thing, I mean, it would be pretty crazy for residents not to want to have the city do something with it," he said.
Giobbi said keeping the property available for commercial leasing would limit the city's ability to reject certain types of proposals simply because commissioners do not favor them.
"We can't say selectively, well you can only put this. If we leave it open for leasing, then there's a list of items that can be leased. Can't really say, well you can't put a car wash there, you can't do this, but you could put a bulletin board there," she said. "To be perfectly honest, once you do develop that, you are going to infringe upon anything that's in Haney Creek. There'll be runoff, there'll be all sorts of items."
The commission voted 3-1 to place the issue on the November ballot, with Rich dissenting.