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County adopts seven-year comprehensive plan update after state-driven revisions
Summary
St. Lucie County voted to adopt its Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR)-based comprehensive plan amendments after staff revised several policies to address state agency comments, reverting a few proposed 'shall' changes and updating CIP tables and maps; staff scheduled ongoing state compliance steps.
St. Lucie County adopted its required seven-year Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) updates on May 5 after staff incorporated state review comments and made targeted revisions to ensure compliance.
Ben Balser, the county's planning and development services director, told commissioners the EAR-based amendments incorporate new census data, population projections and statutory changes. The State Land Planning Agency and other reviewers identified several policies that, as drafted for transmittal, the state considered "more restrictive or burdensome"; staff reverted selected changes (for example, returned several 'shall' changes to 'should') and updated transportation, infrastructure and capital improvements tables accordingly.
Balser said staff also added technical updates requested by FDOT (including replacing the word "accident" with "crash") and updated CIP entries to reflect recently planned potable-water, sanitary-sewer and landfill expansion projects. The board approved the adoption by voice vote and authorized staff to address any remaining technical items required for state compliance.
The board's action completes local adoption steps; the county will continue coordination with state reviewers to address any outstanding comments and finalize the amended comprehensive plan.
