{"id":222771,"date":"2026-04-08T01:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/222771\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T01:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:03:11","slug":"stuart-mayor-flags-courthouse-parking-issue-as-brightline-project-considered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/222771\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuart mayor flags courthouse parking issue as Brightline project considered"},"content":{"rendered":"

STUART, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The mayor of Stuart is raising a red flag, citing a potential parking shortfall at the courthouse if Martin County moves forward with a Brightline<\/a> station.<\/p>\n

Mayor Christopher Collins<\/a> says all entities involved \u2014 Martin County, Brightline, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Florida East Coast Railroad \u2014 have been put on notice about the issue.<\/p>\n

According to a letter from the mayor dated April 3 to the Martin County Board of Commissioners<\/a>, city staff reviewed the courthouse site plan and found the county is required to have a minimum of 218 parking spaces to serve the courthouse. The letter adds that, under current conditions, approximately 334 spaces are available.<\/p>\n

See also: Stuck for years, now facing a $5M deadline: Inside West Palm\u2019s unfinished skyline project<\/a><\/p>\n

The letter goes on to say that if the county proceeds with a leasing agreement on SE Flagler Avenue for Brightline, 165 parking spaces would be removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would result in a net deficiency of 53 parking spaces below the required minimum,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n

CBS12 viewers and readers can read the full letter here:<\/p>\n

Collins said in a Facebook post:<\/p>\n

You shouldn\u2019t have to compete with courthouse staff for limited on-street parking. And poor planning that leads to Brightline passengers, Ubers and taxis looping and stacking in front of Stuart Middle and a park where kids play is unacceptable. Bottom line if Martin County won\u2019t fully accommodate parking for both the courthouse and a Brightline station, we\u2019ve got a serious problem.<\/p>\n

Stuart and Martin County have had a long-standing dispute over Brightline.<\/p>\n

For months in 2025, the two were at a standstill over who would fund the station. The county planned to move forward with the Brightline deal but needed the city\u2019s support to secure federal grants.<\/p>\n

The city argued that without Brightline covering a share of the cost, taxpayers \u2014 both local and federal \u2014 would be responsible for the entire project.<\/p>\n

The dispute stems from a 2024<\/a> decision when Brightline selected Stuart<\/a> for its Treasure Coast stop. Initially, both the city and county supported the project. However, months later, the newly elected Stuart City Commission rescinded a land lease agreement with Brightline, effectively pulling out of the deal.<\/p>\n

In response, the county reached its own agreement with the rail company in November to build the station on county-owned land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STUART, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The mayor of Stuart is raising a red flag, citing a potential parking shortfall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-222771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}