Residents tell Martin MPO they oppose Cove Road widening alternative

Residents of Montego Cove and other Cove Road property owners told the Martin County Metropolitan Planning Organization on May 12, 2025, that they oppose a proposed widening project and raised concerns about right-of-way loss, drainage and noise. The public comment came during the MPO’s regular meeting and preceded a staff note that FDOT project staff will present the proposal again at the June 16 MPO meeting.

The Cove Road expansion project has been under discussion since November 2021. Tyrone Monti, a director of the Montego Cove Condominium Association, told the MPO, “since the inception of the proposal going back to November of 2021, we oppose the expansion project.” Monti said his community would be forced “to sharing a bike lane within proximate traffic in a 4-lane expressway” under the April 23 presentation of Alternative 2C and stressed the neighborhood has a single entrance and exit.

Resident Warren Newell, who identified experience as a former Palm Beach County engineer and local civil surveyor, described technical concerns he believes were omitted from the most recent presentation. Newell said FDOT’s current design calls for a 50-foot right of way on parts of Cove Road and asserted that many property owners had already lost front-yard area because of an early-20th-century reservation (referred to in public comment as a 1920 “Murphy” deed). Newell described proposed roadway grade increases of five to seven feet at his property and told the MPO, “cars are over my roof... the pedestrian looks in the bedroom window.” He also questioned the proposed 12-foot bike paths, calling that width “as wide as the interstate travel lane.”

MPO staff told residents they are tracking these concerns and that FDOT district staff and the project manager will present the Cove Road design and respond to comments at the MPO meeting on June 16 at 9 a.m. in the same meeting room. Commissioner Stacy Hetherington explicitly encouraged residents to attend that presentation.

Discussion vs. decision: these remarks were delivered during the public comment period; the meeting record shows no formal MPO action on the Cove Road design at this session. Staff indicated follow-up presentations and technical responses are scheduled; the MPO did not adopt or change any project approvals at this meeting.

Background/technical context: speakers described the project as seeking wider right of way to accommodate a multi-lane corridor and separate bike facilities. Residents and speakers raised three recurring technical concerns: (1) permanent loss of front-yard area tied to historic state reservations and proposed additional right-of-way; (2) changes in roadway elevation and grading that could raise vehicle lanes several feet above existing property grades; and (3) drainage impacts from state maintenance changes in nearby park property and from the roadway footprint itself.

The MPO staff response at the meeting was procedural: staff recorded comments, confirmed FDOT district staff will present and respond to detailed concerns at the June meeting, and encouraged residents to provide written comments and attend the follow-up presentation.