For those of us who live on the Vero barrier island, it’s a matter of trust. We must trust that the folks running Fellsmere, which again seems poised to annex a sizable chunk of agricultural land, won’t someday succumb to the temptation of big money from opportunistic, build-and-bolt developers driven only by profit.
We must trust that they will want to “grow with grace,” as County Commissioner Wesley Davis describes the way this county historically has been developed, and not allow their quaint, rural community to become the next Port St. Lucie.
We must trust that they won’t sell us out and overwhelm us, drastically altering the look and feel of our county.
We have no choice.
“If they deviate from their current plan and start developing in a huge way, they will get a reaction from the county,” County Commissioner Bob Solari said. “But, at this point, I don’t think there’s anything the county can do to stop them.”
At this point, there’s nothing to stop, despite the Fellsmere City Council giving its initial consent last week to the annexation of nearly 9,000 acres of ranch land owned by the Corrigan family.
The property eventually could add more than 13,000 homes to the city – perhaps significantly more – but it is currently zoned for low-density, low-rise development and there are no plans for construction in the foreseeable future.
In fact, the Corrigan family has said it will continue to operate its cattle ranch.
But if the proposed annexation is approved – the council has scheduled a public hearing for Oct. 2, with a final vote to follow – the city’s footprint will expand to 52 square miles, stretching from the Indian River-Brevard county line to State Road 60 and, in places, reaching east across Interstate 95.
That’s a big piece of real estate for what is, in every other way, a small town with a population of only 5,400.
Yet, the council gave its initial approval with little discussion among its members and no input from the public during a Thursday night meeting attended by fewer than two dozen people.
Simply put: It wasn’t a big deal.
The occasion prompted none of the angst felt and concern expressed by county commissioners, the Indian River Neighborhood Association and other community leaders in 2007, when Fellsmere was in the process of annexing 18,000 acres of agricultural land.
“Seven or eight years ago, people were very concerned about how the county was growing,” Davis said. “But then we found something worse than growth: no growth at all. Strange how things have changed.”
As fate would have it, a nationwide economic recession stalled the city’s long-range plan for those 18,000 acres, where as many as 22,000 new homes were to be built around a commercial town center in a development known as the Villages of Fellsmere.
To date, not one home has been built there.
Maybe, then, there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe Fellsmere’s decision makers will continue to keep densities low, build wisely and tastefully, and pursue growth with the rest of the county in mind.
Maybe we can trust them to do what’s best for everyone.
City Manager Jason Nunemaker is a smart guy who has a wonderful vision for Fellsmere’s future – a city composed of well-planned communities, large parks, greenways and new businesses to provide the jobs that would attract new residents – and seems to know how to get there.
He believes the addition of the Corrigan tracts fits well with the 2007 annexation and that having commercial property abutting State Road 60 and I-95 will enhance the city’s chances of luring new businesses, especially if a new I-95 interchange is built between Vero Beach and Sebastian.
“The smartest thing Fellsmere has done is move away from a strong-mayor form of government, adopt a city-manager-style government and hire Jason,” Davis said. “You need a professional to make a lot of these decisions.”
And good decisions will need to be made – because Fellsmere is destined to grow.
Or is it?
According to the latest U.S. Census data, 80 percent of Fellsmere’s population is Hispanic and most of its employed residents are agricultural workers. So not until the city brings in new businesses that will provide new, better-paying jobs will it lure new residents in significant numbers.
But can Fellsmere bring in new businesses without the infrastructure they’ll require?
More to the point: Can Fellsmere, with its current population and tax base, afford to install the infrastructure – particularly water, sewer and roads – needed to accommodate the new businesses it wants to attract?
“I don’t understand yet how Fellsmere, being that size and with its present low density, is going to be able to pay for the higher level of services getting water and sewer out there,” Solari said. “How are they going to put in roads in an area of that size?” When it was suggested Fellsmere might attempt to connect to the county’s water and sewer system, Solari said the cost of doing so could be prohibitive.
“Where it makes sense for us to expand our system, we will, but our first priority is serving our county residents,” Solari said. “About 15 years ago, the county had to take over Sebastian’s water and sewer system, and the county had to borrow money to do it. I have a hard time seeing it as the county’s place to rescue Fellsmere, if the city overextends itself and puts itself on the verge of collapse.
“That would put the county in a difficult position, because we have no excess funds,” he added. “We’re barely able to afford the projects we have in place.”
So Solari is as much puzzled by Fellsmere’s latest annexation attempt as he is concerned about its impact on the rest of the county.
“Even without these 8,000 acres, they already have more land than they’ll need for the next 30 or 40 years, so I can’t understand why they want to do this,” Solari said. “We’ll monitor things, but I think the city of Fellsmere should be more concerned than they are – because I believe they’re going to be slowed down by their lack of infrastructure.”
Lack of infrastructure. Lack of population. Lack of tax revenues. But there’s no lack of ambition.
Fellsmere is the Little City That Wants To.
But is it a little city we can trust?
“You always have to be concerned about the unknown, but I don’t know that I’d call this the unknown,” Davis said. “I hope Fellsmere doesn’t lose its small-town charm, because that’s what makes this county so special, and I don’t think it will.
“No matter where you go – Vero Beach, Sebastian, Indian River Shores, Orchid – there’s a small-town feel. And I can’t see anybody in Fellsmere doing anything to change that.”
Let’s hope Davis is right. Let’s hope Fellsmere won’t become so desperate to grow that it jumps at the money.
Let’s hope we don’t end up with the next Port St. Lucie as a neighbor.
Our quality of life depends on it.