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Board adopts Sunrise Grove text amendment to add "vehicle manufacturing, sales and service" use
Summary
The board voted 3–1 to adopt a text amendment to the Martin County Comprehensive Plan renaming an AgTech designation to Sunrise Grove and adding a permitted use allowing vehicle manufacturing, sales and service as a possible future use; commissioners and applicant emphasized that any physical project would require later site-plan/PUD approval.
Martin County commissioners on Tuesday adopted a comprehensive plan text amendment that renames a site-specific AgTech designation to "Sunrise Grove" and adds vehicle manufacturing, sales and service as an allowed use under the policy.
The change updates Policy 4.13(a)(9) of the future land use element to reflect the new name and to specifically list vehicle manufacturing, sales and service among permitted uses under the AgTech-style policy for that site at the Interstate 95 and Southwest Martin Highway intersection.
Samantha Lovelady of Growth Management told the board the request revises chapter 4 of the county growth management plan and replaces the prior AgTech label with the Sunrise Grove name; staff recommended adoption. The application came as a site-specific text amendment affecting the property formerly known as the AgTech parcel.
Several residents raised concerns about the breadth of the newly listed use. Christine Bell, who lives across the street from the parcel, said she did not understand the scope of “vehicle manufacturing” and objected to iterative add-ons in previous rounds of approvals. She asked whether the proposed text would allow heavy manufacturing or large auto assembly uses without additional review.
Applicant counsel Morris Grady and Commissioner Campey emphasized procedural limits: Grady said the change is a policy-level allowance, not an automatic permit to build, and that any specific project would require later public hearings on a master plan or PUD and site plans. Grady and staff also noted that state reviewers returned the transmittal with no objections.
Commissioners discussed whether the listed vehicle-manufacturing use was limited to electric agricultural equipment or broader. The board was told the amendment would allow any type of vehicle manufacturing, sales or service unless later restricted by site-specific approvals.
Commissioner Campey reiterated that adding the use to the policy does not authorize immediate construction; any actual project would return to the board as a site-plan or PUD approval with public notice. He said he did not see the policy change as harmful, given the long public notice and subsequent approvals required.
The board voted to adopt the ordinance amending the text of Chapter 4 (Future Land Use Element) to add the Sunrise Grove name and vehicle manufacturing, sales and service as a permitted use. The vote was 3–1, with Commissioner Hurd dissenting.
The amendment does not authorize a specific development on the land; any future development would need a separate application and public hearings under the county’s growth-management and PUD processes.
