In debate over growth, sometimes facts take a back seat to emotion | Gil Smart

First time I saw the machines ripping up the two 3-acre plots off Baker Road, my heart caught a little in my throat.

The site in north Stuart is being developed, which around here often elicits an emotional reaction.

Something just seems wrong about pulling out trees like that. But if you stop to think about it, well, developers way back when probably ripped out trees to build my house. Your house, too.

There's always going to be growth, just as there's always been growth. And the trick is how you manage it.

Which brings me back to the land off Baker Road. I went out there Tuesday to meet Nik Schroth, who's part of a group developing the land as part of the "Avonlea" planned urban development.

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Ultimately, 62 townhomes will be built on the land Schroth and his partners have cleared. Another 272 homes, along with retail space, are planned for other parcels which make up the 49-acre Avonlea site.

Schroth had emailed me last week out of frustration. We'd run a letter to the editor last week from a local resident demanding the City of Stuart do something to curtail the “explosive” growth north of the Roosevelt Bridge. The writer claimed Schroth and his partners had cleared 30 acres and "littered" the road with dead wildlife.

Schroth saw red. He'd cleared around 6 acres, not 30. And the dead wildlife? It's not true, he said.

So he asked me: Why are developers and the general public held to different standards?

The general pubic can say whatever it wants, and "seems to think the more egregious the accusation the better chance it has of altering the outcome, and nobody will bother to find the facts."

Whereas he, as a developer, has to hire experts — environmental, traffic, land development — who must swear their reports are true and accurate.

"When people like (the letter writer) make false statements they vilify real estate developers," Schroth said. "they sway the public on a false narrative with no accountability."

Worse, Schroth said, hysterics and hyperbole create the illusion that local government and developers "are turning a blind eye to terrible atrocities when the reality is the person making the claim is misinformed."

Well, yeah. Because like I said, growth is an emotional issue.

All's fair in love and war — and this, really, is both.

But I take Schroth's points, and I get the frustration when guys like him think they've crafted a good plan, a responsible plan — and the public goes off half-cocked anyway.

In fact, the development of Avonlea won't be anywhere near as intensive as it could have been. The original plan approved by Stuart officials allowed some 700 homes and 100,000-plus square feet of retail to built on the various parcels straddling Baker Road, Green River Parkway and Dixie Highway. But several years and land deals later, it's all been scaled back - fewer than half the 700 homes originally envisioned will be built, and 20.4 of the 49.04 acres will be preserved.

Townhomes built on Schroth's land will be priced in the high $200s/low $300s. It's not the "affordable" housing once discussed for Avonlea, but Schroth said a dearth of new housing in Stuart/Martin County had kept supply low while demand is high — and that pushed prices up across the board.

And Schroth said he's happy to talk with anyone who has questions about the project. Indeed, as we stood and chatted a guy in pickup slowed to a stop and asked: What's being built here?

"That happens all the time," said Schroth. People see the trees coming down, they get curious.

They get angry.

Indeed, Schroth said two women were out at the site the day they began clearing, taking pictures.  "Both had said they had sent the pictures to their friends and were going to get everyone riled up," said Schroth."

But he spent some time explaining the project to them, and they walked away not necessarily happy, but with a better understanding of how it all works.

That may be the best we can hope for in the eternal standoff over growth.

Long before Schroth emailed me, I'd been curious about his site — I drive past it twice every day, taking my son to and from school. Signs advertising parcels for sale and public hearings have been up for months.

It seemed a shame to lose those trees, but I get it. Progress is what it is.

Problem is, there's a heck of a lot of "progress" in this part of north Stuart/Jensen Beach.

A half-mile north of Avonlea, if that, plans for "Savannah Place Apartments" call for 280 units to be built on 15.4 acres adjacent to the Hope Center for Autism.

Maybe a mile up Savannah Road, plans for "The Reserve at Jensen Beach" could add 197 apartments in 9 three-story buildings.

At the intersection of Jensen Beach Boulevard and Green River Parkway, "Osprey Preserve" will add 86 attached homes and one single-family home to the mix.

We could go on, but you get the gist. It's not that any one of these projects is "bad," it's that the cumulative effect suggests the entirety of north Stuart/Martin County is being paved over. And all at once, too.

So I think yes, people don't really know how the development process works. They don't know the specifics.

Emotion often rules the day.

But with so many of those blue (Stuart) and yellow (Martin County) signs up, announcing new developments — how could it not?

Gil Smart is a TCPalm columnist and a member of the Editorial Board. His columns reflect his opinion; if you like what you read please consider subscribing to TCPalm. Gil can be reached at gil.smart@tcpalm.com, by phone at (772) 223-4741 or via Twitter at @TCPalmGilSmart.