INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — For the last nine years, the Indian River Neighborhood Association has monitored development within the county and during the housing boom of the mid- 2000s, the group paid close attention to annexations and new home construction in Sebastian and Fellsmere.
After the real estate boom went bust, though, concern about rampant development waned and the IRNA seemingly turned its attention elsewhere. That has begun to change.
Last week, the group renewed its practice of holding its luncheons at Capt. Hiram’s, where it used to meet regularly.
To get reacquainted with Sebastian, IRNA leaders asked City Manager Al Minner and Councilwoman Andrea Coy to attend and speak different issues the city is addressing.
In April, the IRNA plans to do the same in Fellsmere – having lunch at Marsh Landing and having City Manager Jason Nunemaker and Mayor Susan Adams talk about what the city’s been up to.
IRNA Executive Director Brian Carman sees the renewal of north county lunches as a way to restart the organization’s relationships with the two cities, in particularly with Fellsmere. The group and the city were at odds with each other several years ago when the city began annexing hundreds of acres of land and formulating a master plan for development.
“Fellsmere has really come into its own,” said IRNA founding member Honey Minuse. Minuse said her group’s relationship with Fellsmere wasn’t always friendly.
“There were tensions,” she said, explaining that the city’s quick growth prompted her group to say, “Hold your horses.”
“Everything happened so quickly,” Minuse added. The City of Fellsmere went from a strong-mayor form of government to a city manager led council.
Also, several land owners near Fellsmere wanted to be annexed in for various reasons, leading to the city’s quick and unprecedented growth.
In 2008, the IRNA targeted County Commissioner Wesley Davis, who they viewed as supportive of the annexations and the unbridled growth planned for his North County district.
They backed challenger Susan Boyd, who failed to unseat Davis but who garnered 45 percent of the vote in a contentious Republican primary.
Fellsmere Mayor Susan Adams was on the council at the time of the annexations.
“I think at that time it was a trust issue,” she said. “Fellsmere was used to doing its own thing. It was an adjustment for us being under scrutiny.”
Today, Adams sees the IRNA’s renewed interest in her city as a good thing – a way for the group to go to the source to see what’s going on.
“The unknown is scary,” she said.
Fellsmere City Manager Jason Nunemaker said he’s looking forward to the April luncheon, adding that he’s always been open to dialogue.
As for his prior experience with the IRNA, “I don’t hold it against them,” he said, adding that his encounters with the organization during the boom times were “invigorating.”
“It was, frankly, a lot of fun,” Nunemaker said.
Nunemaker plans to highlight the work the city has done over the last few years, including bringing in the National Elephant Center, getting natural gas extended through the city, and establishing a greenway.
“They should have a higher level of comfort,” Nunemaker said of the IRNA.
Sebastian’s history with the IRNA is also colorful. The organization was called in by then-non City Councilwoman Andrea Coy to oppose the Ashbury development.
“We both failed,” Coy said of herself and the then-fledgling IRNA of keeping Ashbury from developing as planned. “They’re not a no-growth group. They’re a smart-growth group.”
The organization raised concerns about the development of what Coy called “virgin” land and that Ashbury was the fifth such planned development in short order in the city due to annexations.
The City of Sebastian, much like Fellsmere, was quickly growing due to landowners’ seeking annexation into municipalities seen as being more development friendly than the county.
The Indian River Neighborhood Association was formed in 2004, starting as a group of concerned residents in the Riomar community on the barrier island. That group joined with other similar neighborhood groups to form what became the IRNA.
“We tend to be issue-oriented these days,” said Minuse. Such issues now tend to focus on impact fees from development, regional transportation, and now, the health of the Indian River Lagoon.
The organization also helps communities understand the potential impacts other developments could have on them and what they can do to either support or oppose such developments. IRNA Chairman George Christopher, during last week’s luncheon, noted that it was special for them to return to Sebastian for their monthly meeting.
“Sebastian, you don’t even know they exist,” he said, drawing laughs from his fellow members.
He pointed to the Indian River Lagoon, the Sebastian Inlet, and the city’s public-private partnership in the working waterfront as gems the city keeps hidden from outsiders.
Those were the reasons, IRNA Executive Director Brian Carman said, the group wanted to return.
“Sebastian is a unique town,” he said. “It has some innovative ideas.”
