LPA recommends adding 205 acres to AgTech district, renaming it Sunrise Grove and allowing vehicle manufacturing

The Martin County Local Planning Agency on Feb. 20 voted to recommend approval of two companion comprehensive‑plan amendments (CPA 23‑03 and CPA 23‑04) that would add 205 acres to the AgTech freestanding urban service district, change the district’s name to Sunrise Grove and add vehicle manufacturing, sales and service to the list of permitted targeted employment uses.

Samantha Lovelady of the Growth Management Department summarized the applications and staff analysis. The CPA 23‑03 application (future land‑use map amendment) would expand the freestanding AgTech area by 205 acres by correcting a survey omission and adding a “triangle” parcel along I‑95 frontage. Staff said one of four statutory criteria was met and that the application scored positively on most urban‑sprawl indicators reviewed in the staff report. Lovelady noted a companion text amendment (CPA 23‑04) would update policy language and Figure 4‑2 to rename the designation and allocate the additional acreage.

Morris Crady of Lucido and Associates, representing the applicant entities Martin Triangle Property LLC and Sunrise Grove Commerce Center LLC (Ashley Capital interests), detailed the background and intent. Crady said the AgTech designation was created in 2010 to combine agricultural and technology‑oriented employment uses, and that the applicant is not requesting additional maximum non‑agricultural development capacity: the plan still caps targeted employment development at the same overall square‑foot entitlement (5,000,000 square feet as reflected in the policy table) but spreads that capacity over a larger area. He said adding the 205 acres increases required common open space/agricultural area from 817 to 939 acres (raising the share of open space overall), increases the acreage available for non‑ag development by about 100 acres and increases common open space by about 122 acres, and does not change the Plan’s performance standards for AgTech/Sunrise Grove.

Crady and staff said a prior owner had paid $2 million to reserve water and sewer capacity from the City of Port St. Lucie, and Ashley Capital is working with the city to construct utility lines to serve the district. Crady also described possible agricultural or AgTech activities discussed historically for the primary AgTech area (examples cited included fuel‑crop or processing concepts) but said detailed project proposals were not part of these map or text amendments.

Public comment included a resident who questioned the claimed agricultural benefit and expressed concern about traffic and habitat loss. Board members discussed whether the amendment discourages or encourages urban sprawl: one member said the area’s proximity to development in adjacent Port St. Lucie supports the request as logical growth, while another repeated long‑standing concerns about freestanding urban service districts. A board member who reported a lease interest in the property recused; the two plan amendments each passed the LPA by votes recorded as 3–1 with one recusal.

Action and next steps: The LPA recommended approval of both CPA 23‑03 (future land‑use map amendment adding 205 acres) and CPA 23‑04 (text amendment renaming AgTech to Sunrise Grove and adding vehicle manufacturing/sales/service) and forwarded both recommendations to the County Commission for public hearing and final decision. The record shows staff and the applicant intend to preserve the plan’s existing performance standards and conditions for the district; final development proposals would require subsequent review and compliance with those standards.

Key figures and clarifications from the hearing: 205 acres proposed to be added; corrected existing AgTech acreage from 1,717 to 1,734 because of a previously uncounted perpetual drainage easement; total resulting acreage if approved would be 1,939 acres; required common open space/agricultural area increased from 817 to about 939 acres; maximum targeted employment entitlement reported in policy table remains 5,000,000 square feet (no increase in overall square footage entitlement); the applicant previously paid $2,000,000 to reserve water/sewer capacity from City of Port St. Lucie.