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St. Lucie County approves settlements to restore public access to Pinelands Preserve, conditioned on permits and title company payment
Summary
The board approved two settlement agreements aimed at restoring public access to the 750-acre Pinelands Preserve and resolving related litigation, conditioned on agency permits, mining-permit modifications and a $400,000 payment from the title company.
The board approved two conditional settlement agreements on April 8 designed to resolve litigation blocking a primary access route to the county's 750-acre Pinelands Preserve and to secure a replacement access arrangement.
Special Assistant County Attorney Caroline Valentin told commissioners the preserve, purchased in 1998 with partial funding from the Florida Communities Trust, includes about six miles of trails and appears on the state's Great Florida Birding Trail. Litigation beginning in 2019 challenged a 1991 easement the county used to access the preserve; a 2021 order found that 1991 easement invalid, and a January 2025 order determined the county was not entitled to a prescriptive easement, Valentin said. The combined effect left the county without the historical access corridor.
Valentin…
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