Study shows impacts of future development projects on City of PSL

Published on November 18, 2024

A study presented to the Port St. Lucie City Council on Monday, Nov. 18 showed that future developments being considered in unincorporated St. Lucie County will have a significant impact on the City. These include traffic and infrastructure needs that will cost Port St. Lucie taxpayers millions of dollars.

The projects would bring thousands of new housing units and an industrial complex to properties in unincorporated St. Lucie County directly across from Port St. Lucie’s western boundaries.

The City undertook a planning and infrastructure study earlier this year in preparation for updating Port St. Lucie’s comprehensive plan. The study provides data and analysis that guides City leaders on policy and growth management strategy.

Among their key observations:

• New development outside of City boundaries will affect Port St. Lucie infrastructure, services and residents.
• The impacts of this growth on City infrastructure will cost hundreds of millions of additional dollars in roadway improvements and other projects that it has not planned or budgeted for.
• Infrastructure costs need to be paid for by developers to limit the financial impacts it will have on City taxpayers.
• If future infrastructure needs are not properly planned for and addressed prior to development occurring, the burden will fall on the City.

Because future projects would be developed in unincorporated St. Lucie County, the City would receive no tax revenue or impact fees to offset the cost of infrastructure development and improvements that would be necessary to meet the increased demand.

The study estimated these proposed projects would result in necessary roadway improvements costing up to $280 million dollars. Those costs could result in a deficit for City taxpayers of up to $40 million.

The population growth would also increase demands on retail businesses and medical offices that are already overburdened. It would also require additional services from the City that would increase costs. For example, more people coming into the City would result in a need for an increased police presence and higher utilization of parks and recreation spaces would lead to higher costs for maintenance and staffing.

The study showed that the City can control its own destiny through owner-initiated annexation by the developers who own the land where the proposed projects are located. If the landowners initiate annexation into Port St. Lucie, the City would be positioned to proactively manage and control for the impacts of new development. The City will be able to collect tax revenues and impact fees to offset the costs of expanding infrastructure that would be necessary to accommodate the growth.

Without owner-initiated annexation, the City has little to no input on how best to manage growth. The resulting infrastructure costs would fall on Port St. Lucie without receiving property tax revenues or impact fees to help pay for them.

“The City of Port St. Lucie is committed to making data-driven decisions and the data was gathered for this study to help us update our comprehensive plan,” said Port St. Lucie City Manager Jesus Merejo. “The information in this study provided us with important insights that allow us to understand future impacts of growth in unincorporated St. Lucie County and better plan for them.”

For more information on the planning and infrastructure study, visit cityofpsl.com/planningstudy.