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Connect with Us
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Be an Advocate for AgTEC | | |
We ask you to join us in our efforts to protect the quality of life in Martin County and grow the economic future of this community. You can do that by:
· Continuing to let your County Commissioners know you support AgTEC
· Educating your friends and neighbors about the FACTS regarding AgTEC so they will not be fooled by the misinformation that will surely continue to be spread by the opposition
· Call out those who use misrepresentations to try to influence your friends, neighbors and colleagues
· Invite us to make a presentation to your civic, environmental or business group, homeowners association or any other organization interested in learning more about our plans for AgTEC
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Martin County Board of County Commissioners - Contact Info
Doug Smith, District 1
221-2359
Ed Fielding, District 2
288-5421
Patrick Hayes, District 3
221-2357
Sarah Heard, District 4
221-2358
Ed Ciampi, District 5
eciampi@martin.fl.us
221-1357
Taryn Kryzda, County Admin
288-5939
Physical Address: Martin County Administrative Center
2401 SE Monterey Road, Stuart, FL 34996
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Long-Term Vision and Plan for the Property:
- Strengthening opportunities to attract specialized jobs to Martin County
- Protect and enhance natural resources
- Help agriculture remain viable
- Efficiently utilize existing infrastructure
- Create an extension of a regional reliever road network
- Preserve the scenic value of the tree canopy along County Road 714 in Martin County
- Use smart growth strategies to protect against sprawl
- Create land buffers adjacent to public lands that are restored to their historic, natural condition
- Begin restoration of historic water flow-ways and create water retention areas that will enhance the current water network overseen by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)
- Create urban land use synergy through the effective and logical connection to similar uses that are adjacent to the property.
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Friends of AgTEC,
We wanted to share some great news with you regarding the AgTEC Plan. As you know, Virginia Sherlock filed a lawsuit against our plan on behalf of Donna Melzer, the Martin County Conservation Alliance, and 1000 Friends of Florida. The hearing was held in mid-March in front of a Florida Administrative Law Judge.
On May 5, Judge D.R. Alexander issued his Recommended Order and determined AgTEC to be in compliance.
For those of you who are interested in reading the full 30-page document, click here .
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For starters, we feel vindicated. In this particular case, justice and common sense have prevailed. King Ranch/Consolidated Citrus and our whole team are very pleased with the judge's ruling. Part of our satisfaction comes from the knowledge that we have conducted ourselves in a respectful, professional, honest manner throughout this entire process. We believe it shows that hard work, integrity and authentic community outreach can serve as the cornerstones of creating a successful plan to cultivate opportunities for a landowner as well as the community. |
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With the judge's ruling that AgTEC is indeed in compliance, the Florida Department of Community Affairs will issue their final order within the next month. This includes a 15-day window of time for the opposition to submit exceptions to the judge's Recommended Order.
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Setting the record straight |
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Now that the judge has ruled in our favor and decisively ruled against their case, we feel it important to set the record straight and remind you of the blatant misrepresentations made by the petitioners and opponents during this process. Clearly, they have not acted in the same respectful and honest manner in which we have conducted ourselves.
As recently as this week, another email went out from the Martin County Conservation Alliance with the continued misstatement that our plan would break the county's four-story height limit. If this were true, why didn't the petitioners present any evidence to back up that statement? Not once during two days of direct and cross examination of 10 witnesses did they ever mention the four-story height limit issue at all.
This claim has never been true - and the Conservation Alliance knows it. But they also know it's an easy message to use to scare residents and attempt to damage our reputation in the process. They used this false claim repeatedly - in their emails, their speeches, their presentations, news editorials and in their fundraising letters mailed out by the Guardians of Martin County. It was a well organized smear campaign. Thankfully, it failed.
Though the hearing is over, and the judge has ruled in our favor on every point, if the past is any indication, they will continue to resort to misinformation rather than working with a conscientious landowner to protect agriculture, enhance the environment, and attract clean industry. |
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With this groundless challenge behind us, we can now focus on the challenge of bringing new industry and companies to the Treasure Coast and encouraging them to make AgTEC their home. We are excited to move forward in an effort to improve employment rates and average pay and create greater economic diversification. We believe the community outreach we initiated early in our process has resulted in a plan that creates a balance between economic development, natural resource enhancement and continued agriculture.
We would have preferred to have already been focusing on these efforts for the last 6 months rather than dedicating time and resources to defending our plan against malicious opposition from people who simply attack -- rather than working with a company with a 150-year reputation of agriculture and land management to bring smart economic growth to Martin County. |
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We are committed to continuing our conversations with the community and to discussing our plans with anyone who cares to listen.
If you are part of a civic group or club, environmental or business organization, homeowners association, or just an individual who would like to learn more, please let us know and we'd be happy to make a presentation to you.
As always, thank you for your friendship and continued support.
Sincerely,
Mitch Hutchcraft
King Ranch/Consolidated Citrus LP |
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