FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) — Residents and business owners will have a chance Monday evening to weigh in on a new vision for the Port of Fort Pierce, including a proposal that could position the city as a support hub for offshore rocket recovery operations tied to Florida’s fast-growing space industry.

St. Lucie County is hosting a public meeting on the 2026 Port of Fort Pierce Master Plan update at 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 1, at the Fort Pierce Yacht Club, 700 N. Indian River Drive. County officials are asking the community to review the draft plan and provide feedback through an online survey.

The Port of Fort Pierce is one of Florida’s deepwater ports and is managed by the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners. Its main tenant, Derecktor Shipyards, focuses on maintenance and refurbishing of large yachts. But the draft 2026 master plan looks beyond yachts, laying out how Fort Pierce could also support the vessels and waterfront infrastructure needed to recover reusable rockets launched from the Space Coast.

The plan identifies a proposed Launch Vehicle Recovery Facility as one of the port’s major long-term opportunities. The facility would be designed to support offshore launch recovery operations, including autonomous drone ships, fairing recovery vessels and other marine support craft — the types of vessels used by companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin as reusable rocket technology becomes a larger part of Florida’s launch economy.

Under the draft plan, Fort Pierce’s advantages include deepwater access, available waterfront land and an existing marine industrial base. The plan notes that Port Canaveral is currently the primary hub for many rocket recovery operations, but growing launch activity has created pressure for more berths, more staging space and more heavy-lift infrastructure along Florida’s east coast.

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The proposed Fort Pierce facility would include a secure waterfront area, controlled access from North 2nd Street, a heavy-load wharf roughly 700 feet long and up to 8 to 10 acres of upland space for storage, laydown and operations. The wharf would be built to support cranes, recovered booster components, drone ships and other specialized vessels. The plan also says the same infrastructure could later be adapted for import/export activity or expanded marine repair work, helping the port avoid relying on a single industry.

That flexibility is a central theme of the update. County planners describe the document as a supplement to the 2020 Port of Fort Pierce Master Plan, not a replacement. The 2026 update keeps the earlier vision of a mixed-use working waterfront, while adding more detail about emerging markets, including aerospace recovery, mega-yacht repair, marine education, recreation and public access.

The space-related proposal is only one part of the broader port vision. Harbour Pointe would become the port’s main public-facing district, with a regional boat ramp, a marine commercial district, waterfront dining, a shared-use path, a living shoreline, an entertainment pavilion and a maritime academy or workforce training campus. The boat ramp is described in the plan as a major Treasure Coast boating access point that could help relieve pressure on smaller neighborhood ramps.

Museum Pointe, across the water on South Hutchinson Island, would be redeveloped as a mega-yacht marina with floating docks, support amenities, a restaurant or event venue, a fishing pier and potential water taxi service connecting it with Harbour Pointe. The marina would serve large yachts needing temporary dockage, crew changes, provisioning or staging before maintenance at the port’s existing mega-yacht MRO facility.

The draft plan also calls for continued expansion of the Derecktor-centered mega-yacht maintenance and repair campus, which remains one of the port’s economic anchors. Planners say the same skilled labor, heavy equipment and vessel-handling experience used for large yachts could also support drone ships and other marine vessels tied to rocket recovery.

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The update comes as Florida’s launch industry continues to expand and as reusable rockets make maritime recovery more routine. The draft plan says that increased launch cadence, larger rocket systems and expanded fairing and booster recovery have created demand for ports that can handle specialized vessels, heavy equipment, secure staging areas and quick turnaround times.

For Fort Pierce, the question now is how far the community wants to go in capturing that opportunity.

The county says public input will help shape the plan as it moves forward. Residents can review the draft master plan on St. Lucie County’s website and submit comments through the county’s online survey.

Read the full draft master plan below.