Melissa Meeker
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
This newspaper’s editorial regarding the AgTEC project showed lack of recognition of the project’s potential benefit for our community.
It incorporates environmental restoration, green-focused development, continued agricultural operations and has broad- based community support.
Key points from the editorial:
Urban Services: AgTEC is directly adjacent to the city of Port St. Lucie’s urban services district, an approved mall site.
Tradition and Interstate 95: Connecting to the existing adjacent system is much better than the alternatives.
Travel: 50 percent of Martin County workers leave the county every day because there aren’t jobs here. I’m sure they would rather have quality jobs closer to home.
Agriculture and environment: AgTEC’s goal is to attract businesses focused on green technologies and alternative energy crops, ensuring there will be a permanent agricultural component to their development. Part of that includes permanent conservation areas with public access, and environmental benefits through water storage, i.e., potentially less water entering the St. Lucie River.
When the state Department of Community Affairs initially reviewed/rejected AgTEC’s plans, it included suggestions for making the plan better and acceptable. King Ranch reviewed DCA’s concerns, made further changes and gained the state planning agency’s support.
With our current economic climate, it would have been nice for our local newspaper to be as encouraging as DCA showing potential businesses that might be interested in locating here, that Martin County wants them.
Melissa Meeker
Stuart