MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A new Florida law could offer another path toward housing on 396 acres near Kanner Highway, after Martin County commissioners voted against advancing a residential proposal for the land last year.
The property, known as Waterside, lies south of SW 96th Street, between Kanner Highway and the St. Lucie Canal. The applicant previously sought to change its designation from agricultural to low-density residential. Commissioners voted 5–0 in November 2025 not to advance that request.
Now, Kanner/96th Street Investments LLC has asked commissioners to certify the property as an agricultural enclave under a state law that took effect July 1. Florida business records list The Kolter Group as the LLC’s manager. A hearing on the certification request is scheduled for October 13.
Senior Planner Jenna Knobbe said the application requests a density of about 3.1 homes per acre, or roughly 1,200 single-family homes. That is a proposed figure, not an approved home count.
Jim Harvey, president of Brookfield Kolter Land Partners, declined to comment on the request.
“We have no comment at this time,” Harvey said in an email to CBS12 News.
The law is meant for certain agricultural properties that are already surrounded by development or land planned for it. To qualify, an applicant must meet specific requirements involving the property’s agricultural history, surrounding land, size and access to services such as roads, water and sewer. Whether Waterside meets those requirements is what commissioners must decide.
Commissioners can deny certification if the land does not qualify. But they must base their decision on the law’s criteria—not simply whether they want homes built there. A denial requires written findings, which the applicant can challenge in court. If the county takes no action within 90 days of receiving an application, state law says the land must be certified.
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Certification would not approve a subdivision. It would let the applicant later submit qualifying housing plans based on what is allowed on neighboring land. The law says those plans must be treated as an allowed use even if the county’s existing growth plan or zoning would otherwise prohibit it. County staff would still review the plans, but the law does not require another commission hearing on them.
“It does take away some of the local control for local governments for deciding where development may or may not take place,” Knobbe said in an interview.
She said certification is the only part of this process that would go before commissioners. If certified, the property owner could submit development plans for administrative review without another commission hearing or vote on those plans.
Martin County has long tried to keep new neighborhoods from spreading into rural areas. The new law raises a question: If this land qualifies, can commissioners still stop homes from being built outside the county’s planned growth area?
Greg Braun, executive director of The Guardians of Martin County, said his organization wants development to follow the county’s existing growth plan.
“Tallahassee legislators seem to think that they know better about what’s going on locally than our local elected officials, and we think that that’s wrong,” Braun said.
Gil Smart, advocacy director for Friends of the Everglades, said his organization opposed the law because of concerns about development and public involvement.
“People value the open space, the green space, as they see them being taken away and bulldozed flat so we can build more housing,” Smart said. “People are going to have something to say about that, and they need to have a say in that.”
Commissioners did not decide the Waterside request Tuesday. They unanimously approved fees for reviewing applications under the new law: $8,150 to review whether property qualifies and $16,600 to review development plans submitted later.
Knobbe said the law puts staff on a tight schedule. The county has 30 days to review a certification application and issue a report. A public hearing must follow within another 30 days.
“We’ve kind of had to drop everything that we’re working on and prioritize that application,” Knobbe told commissioners Tuesday.
A separate deadline would apply if the land is certified and the applicant submits development plans: County staff would have no more than 180 days to review them.
“These are very expedited timeframes for what we typically will do for a major development plan type of review, because there’s a lot of moving parts,” Knobbe said.
The property is outside the county’s urban service district, where the county generally directs more intensive development and plans for supporting services. Knobbe said the county had not necessarily planned for that level of development on these properties.
Roads, drainage, water and sewer would still need review. Knobbe said the county would need to negotiate with the developer over who pays for any needed infrastructure improvements.
“I think the effect is going to be more traffic. I think the effect is going to be more sprawl. I think the effect is going to be municipal services overextended,” Smart said.
No homes were approved Tuesday. The October 13 hearing is about whether Waterside qualifies for the new process, not approval of a housing site plan.