PORT ST LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — Port St. Lucie has been growing fast, building new homes, schools, and shopping centers at a rapid pace. “I know there’s a lot of construction around here, so there’s got to be a lot of people moving to the area,” Port St. Lucie resident Scott Herron said.
More than 50,000 people have moved here since 2020, bringing the population to about 260,000. But city leaders are now pumping the brakes. Making it clear they’re against a proposal that would rezone 464 acres near Glades Cut Off Road and the C-24 Canal for hundreds of new homes.
“There’s no way I’m going to approve more rooftops to come before St. Lucie. I wasn’t in support of it then. I’m not going to be in support of it now. We don’t need to be adding rooftops,” Port St Lucie City Council said in their meeting on August 25th.
So instead, the city is looking for ways to balance the boom. Rather than approving more homes, council members are focusing on buying land for green space, like the 104 acres at Rosser Lakes.
“Obviously would provide additional stormwater for us as a city to be able to hold stormwater and keep that out of our roads and our streets. But more importantly, it stopped additional rooftops. I have seen it, and it is a beautiful future park site. And our residents have told us that, where we can, they want us to acquire more land for parks. And so that’s exactly what we are doing,” city leaders said.
Leaders said the city will continue to grow, but the focus now is on making sure it’s balanced, with parks, retail, and industrial projects to support the economy.
“Where people have property rights, just like you and I have property rights, we honor them. However, when people come to us with situations where they’re trying to add homes or add things that aren’t already entitled, or we can mitigate some of the growth, we take those actions,” the council added.
Even though the cranes and bulldozers aren’t going anywhere, city leaders said the goal is to make sure it’s not just homes popping up but also parks and businesses that keep up with the people moving here and the quality of life.