The President’s Hoot!

Taking on Growth

The Press Journal is convening a forum to discuss Indian River County’s future direction on growth at 7 p.m. September 23, 2003 at the Richardson Center on the campus of Indian River Community College’s Mueller Center, 6155 College Lane. There will be comments from the mayor of Sebastian, a realtor, banker, architect, and regional, county, and city planners. The forum is very timely as Indian River County is in the middle of a huge growth spurt. According to Bob Keating, County Community Development Director, residential building permits have doubled in the last four years, and he is expecting 1400 permits for 2003 and even higher rates in the future. He estimates 166,200 county residents by 2025. It gets worse, as Michael Busha, Executive Director of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council recently challenged the county’s Land Acquisition Advisory Committee: “Where will the County will put 50,000 new residents in the urban service area?” The County’s current population is about 116,000 people and the new residents will need an additional 40 square miles for their homes and services.

Kevin Doty, Vice President of PIAS, has been quoted, “Florida is going broke because it relies on residential development. The cost of services and the demands on infrastructure are not paying for themselves. Florida is trying to build itself into paradise and really it’s going broke.” Providing services to residential property costs counties more than to commercial, agricultural, and open lands, according to two 1994 economic impact analyses in Lake County and Collier County by Farming for the Future Inc. of Boca Raton. For every dollar in tax revenue generated, the cost of services is $1.56 in residential developments, $0.13 in commercial zones, $0.07 in agricultural lands and $0.03 in open lands. These services include increased taxes for more schools, road and bridge construction, water and sewer connections, police, fire, and mosquito protection, and county government buildings to manage our growth.

Since 1936, Florida has lost 22 percent of its forest and 51 percent of its marshes and has experienced a 60 percent increase in agriculture. But even this pales compared with the 632 percent increase in urban area. The U. S. population is growing at the fastest rate of any industrial country. Between 1990 and 2000, the U.S. population increased by 32 million people (13.1 percent), the largest number in any 10-year period in our history. Florida grew about 25 percent during this same period and is now reaching 17 million. We are the third most populous nation in the world behind China and India and are expected to reach nearly 400 million by 2050. A recent study suggests that if every person alive today consumed at the rate of an average American, three more planets would be required to fulfill these demands. The United Nations now suggests that by 2050 about 9.3 billion people will be alive which is 50 percent more than today. We are adding 77 million a year and many of them will want to come to Indian River County!!!

We need to start in our own county to control our local growth. Please do your part: Attend the PJ- sponsored forum on September 23 and meet with county and city officials to encourage them to control local growth now. Be part of a large and vocal Audubon turn-out. Richard H. Baker, President (September 2003)