It was a heated meeting \u2014 and the first chance for the public to speak out at length about the project. In the end, Port St. Lucie city council members unanimously approved three key parts of the deal to bring the city its first professional soccer stadium.<\/p>\n
As council members gaveled the meeting to order, residents filled the chambers to share their thoughts. Opinions were mixed on the proposed plan to build the city\u2019s first pro soccer stadium, which would bring a USL professional soccer team to Port St. Lucie.<\/p>\n
WATCH WPTV’S COVERAGE BELOW:<\/p>\n
While some jumped at the idea:<\/p>\n
\u201cI fully support it,\u201d said one resident in support of the plan. \u201cI support you guys in what you’re doing, and I commend you for bringing in a good project.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cComing from a 41-year-old millennial, I am downright excited about this,\u201d said Mark Bryant, also in support. \u201cSo let’s get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others voiced strong opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot one time did anybody in my community in this neighborhood say this is what we want,\u201d said Jennifer Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to know what we’re going to do if this thing fails, and everybody here got to foot the bill, what are we going to do?\u201d asked concerned resident Steven Russo.<\/p>\n
Many residents shared concerns about traffic, noise, and funding \u2014 issues the council addressed before taking the final vote.<\/p>\n
Mayor Shannon Martin said the city had carefully reviewed the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have vetted this completely; we have gone over this with a fine-toothed comb, and all of the traffic issues will be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also emphasized that taxpayers won\u2019t be left footing the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city is not subsidizing in any way, shape or form this stadium or any operational or maintenance costs as it relates to the stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials say no public money will be spent until the stadium opens. The $27 million reimbursement will be paid out over 20 years, pending annual approval. Only property tax increases from the stadium\u2019s zone will be used, meaning neighbors won\u2019t see higher taxes.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s vote locks in both the funding and operating agreements, securing the stadium project for decades to come.<\/p>\n
We are working to learn when construction will begin, with plans to be ready for the team\u2019s first match by March 2027.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a heated meeting \u2014 and the first chance for the public to speak out at length…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-34013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34013","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=34013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}