Don’t read too much into the County Commission’s recent decision to expand the Urban Services Boundary for the first time since the lines were drawn in 1990.
Contrary to what you might’ve read or heard in the aftermath of that controversial May 20 vote, the commissioners aren’t caving to pressure from greedy developers who see our county as the next frontier to become engulfed by the hellish urban sprawl we see to our south.
Nor should anyone listen to the alarmists who warn that our elected commissioners have put us on a slippery slope that will turn our community into Fort Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach, or even Port St. Lucie.
All five commissioners know the quality of life we desire here. They know what we don’t want our county to become. They know how we’ll react if they betray our trust.
There’s no reason to panic.
The commission’s action, in fact, targeted only 2,180 acres along the Oslo Road corridor – specifically, the services gap from 58th Avenue to 74th Avenue between 5th Street Southwest and 13th Street Southwest – in advance of the much-anticipated I-95 interchange currently under construction on the county’s southern tier.
It will have no effect on the Urban Services Boundary elsewhere in the county, despite the fact that our population has increased by more than 10,000 residents since the 2020 Census and continues to move closer to 175,000.
“This is not a canary in the coal mine,” Commission Chairman Joe Flescher said during a phone interview last week. “We’re not going to expand the USB for no reason. You’ll have to show me a need.
“Right now, I don’t see any need to move the boundary anywhere else in the county,” he added. “We’ve had public meetings. We’ve listened to the community. We’ve had the conversation and taken into account everything that was discussed.
“There are absolutely no plans to expand the boundary.”
For those who don’t know: A USB establishes the area where the county provides water lines, sewage treatment, roadways and other services to encourage development.
Prior to the commission’s decision, the USB in our county was located almost entirely east of I-95, with the exceptions of an area along the State Road 60 corridor and property within Fellsmere.
Now, the county’s USB along the Oslo Road corridor extends all the way to 98th Avenue, west of I-95. (The urban services area had already included the tract from 74th Avenue to 98th Avenue.)
Flescher said his support for the limited expansion of the USB along the Oslo Road corridor was based on the need to prepare for the impacts of the coming I-95 interchange, which he called a “new gateway to Indian River County.”
County officials first raised the possibility of adding an I-95 exit at Oslo Road in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until 2022 that the Florida Department of Transportation approved the project.
Construction on the $96 million interchange began last August and is expected to be completed during the summer of 2027.
There’s no doubt the opening of the interchange will transform Oslo Road and spur new commercial and residential development along the corridor and southward toward Indrio Road in northern St. Lucie County.
That development – and its accompanying population growth – will largely be constrained by the USB, however.
When the county adopted its 2030 Comprehensive Plan in 2010, staffers projected a likely need to expand the USB around an eventual I-95 interchange at Oslo Road to meet an increase in demand for commercial and industrial development in the area.
That’s why the county’s current Planning and Development Services Department conducted a study last year to determine infrastructure concerns, examine existing land uses, analyze the need for roadway improvements and, of course, seek public feedback.
County planners then recommended the USB expansion, which the commission approved with a 4-1 vote – the lone opposition coming from Laura Moss, who represents the barrier island.
The commission, though, imposed a 12-month moratorium on any rezoning of the mostly agricultural properties along the affected Oslo Road corridor.
That moratorium can – and likely will – be extended, unless the commission is confronted with a compelling reason to lift it.
“There’s a picture being painted that we’re blowing out the boundary,” said Vice Chairman Deryl Loar, who served three terms as the county’s sheriff before he was elected to the commission in 2022. “That’s not what we’re doing.”
Don’t be surprised if the USB along the Oslo Road corridor, or anywhere else in the county, remains in place for another decade or more.
Yes, there’s plenty of vacant land that developers would find attractive west of the existing USB, especially beyond 58th Avenue in the mid-county area, but residents continue to tell the commission they want to retain the community’s rural feel.
Besides, there’s no need to expand the USB now – and for the next 25 years, perhaps – and the reason has nothing to do with residents’ concerns about environmental impact, infrastructure readiness, traffic congestion, or even small-town charm.
While the county’s population is projected to surpass 210,000 by 2050, a consultant’s study shows there’s enough residential-development capacity inside the existing USB to handle more than 50,000 new residents, which exceeds the expected growth.
Thus, developers interested in building here would be left to decide whether they’re willing to invest in the already-prepped pockets of land within the county’s USB.
Not all of the remaining parcels, however, are in desirable locations – a factor that could drive some developers, especially those seeking higher home prices, to more appealing options in Sebastian or Fellsmere.
Both North County municipalities, which have in recent years annexed large swaths of county land, could accommodate a combined total of nearly 100,000 new residents.
Fellsmere now stretches from the Brevard County line to just north of State Road 60. A segment of Sebastian’s southern city limit runs along 69th Avenue.
There has been some discussion of the county and its municipalities entering into an interlocal agreement that addresses future annexation and encourages all parties to work together to ensure sensible growth.
Those talks need to continue.
It would also be nice if our St. Lucie County neighbors didn’t make a mess of the area surrounding the I-95 interchange at Indrio Road, where a site plan for a Buc-ee’s mega-travel center has been submitted and, if approved, probably will spawn more anything-goes overdevelopment.
But we control only what we can control, and our commissioners seem to have future growth in this county – in the unincorporated areas, anyway – under control.
Like it or not, the county will continue to grow, much to the dismay of all the newcomers who moved here during our post-COVID surge and immediately wanted to lock the gate behind them.
More developments will break ground. More homes will be built. We’ll see more traffic on our roads. That’s inevitable when you choose to live in a nice place.
The trick is to grow gracefully, which isn’t easy, especially with all the overdevelopment going on around us. And we are.
We might not be the Indian River County of yesteryear, but, even to longtime residents, our community is still recognizable.
So don’t read too much into our County Commission expanding the USB along the Oslo Road corridor in advance of another I-95 interchange – which, by the way, won’t resemble or invite the congestion and craziness of similar exits in Brevard and St. Lucie.
“You really can’t go west more than mile, and even if you do, there’s nothing out there but protected lands and Florida Power & Light solar fields,” Loar said. “You can only go east, if you want to get anywhere.
“That’s why we needed to expand the boundary,” he added. “We want to plan and prepare, because coming in from the south, that’s going to be your first impression of Indian River County.
“We want it to pop, so you know you’re entering some place special.”
Because you are.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
