🟠 Main Squeeze: The second largest development project in St. Lucie County history has been heard three times by the county commission and still has no final vote, with a fourth hearing set for July 7th.

Before you read this story, here is what you need to know.

A rezoning is when a property owner asks the county to change what can be built on their land. A PUD, or Planned Unit Development, is a special type of rezoning that allows a developer to build a large mixed community under a custom set of rules. A Hamlet PUD is a specific category the county created in 2024 for large developments outside the urban services boundary, which is basically the invisible line that separates areas the county has committed to serving with roads, water, sewer, and emergency services from areas it has not. A development agreement is the legally binding contract between the county and the developer that spells out exactly what gets built, when it gets built, and what happens if it does not. A continuance is when a hearing gets postponed to a future date instead of resulting in a vote.

Lennar Homes has owned 1,027 acres in the far north end of St. Lucie County since 2004, sitting just west of I-95 south of the Indian River County line near Koblegard Road. After two decades of waiting while the county developed its framework for how that land could be used, Lennar came forward with a proposal to build 3,081 homes, a commercial village, a daycare center, a dedicated school site, and over 440 acres of open space on that land. They are calling it Indrio Groves. If approved, the development could be home to more than 7,700 residents according to county estimates, making it the second largest development project in St. Lucie County history behind only Oak Ridge.

You can see this project and every other proposed development in St. Lucie County on the county's interactive development map.

What they are proposing

🏡 3,081 total homes including single family houses, townhomes, and 328 apartments.

🌳 426 acres of open space including lakes, walking trails, parks, and a central 35 acre amenity campus with a community farm, dog parks, and an amphitheater.

🏫 24 acres dedicated to St. Lucie Public Schools for a future K through 8 school.

🏗️ 308 workforce housing units for residents earning between 80 and 120 percent of the area median income, committed for 20 years.

🛣️ Multiple road improvements including roundabouts, intersection upgrades, and 1.5 miles of Koblegard Road construction paid for by the developer.

What the board has been wrestling with

At the March 17th hearing the board raised concerns about lot sizes being too small, setbacks being too narrow, and the workforce housing being clustered in one corner rather than distributed through the community. Lennar came back to the April 21st hearing with real changes. Lot widths went up. Setbacks got larger. Workforce housing increased from 9 to 10 percent of all units. The developer agreed to every condition planning staff recommended.

Then Commissioner James Clasby arrived at the April 21st meeting with a 12 page handout and spent 30 minutes reading the county's own staff report into the legal record, getting planning staff to confirm on record that the project is three times more dense than surrounding properties, that hospital travel times from the site run up to 55 minutes, that there is no committed timeline for a nearby fire station, and that the staff report itself questions whether the density pattern is consistent with what the Hamlet PUD category was designed to produce.

The county attorney recommended a continuance so the developer could respond to the record Clasby built. The board agreed and pushed the hearing to July 7th.

Commissioner Erin Lowry captured where much of the board's head is. "This is outside the urban service boundary," she said at the April 21st meeting, "and we want this to continue to be rural St. Lucie County and not look like a project coming out of Port St. Lucie." You can read TC Palm's full coverage of the April hearing here.

The road that may not get built

One of the central unresolved issues heading into July is Russos Road, an east west connector the county asked Lennar to plan for instead of a simpler set of intersection improvements the developer's original traffic study had already cleared. Russos Road does not exist. Building it requires acquiring right of way from private property owners who have not agreed to sell. Lennar cannot force a sale and St. Lucie County, which has apparently never used eminent domain, would face a jury trial process that could take years if willing sellers cannot be found. The board landed on a framework that gives Lennar the first shot at acquiring the land, with the county stepping in if that fails and an alternative intersection improvement available as a last resort. That framework still needs to be finalized in the development agreement.

The community has been largely absent

Across three hearings on what would be the second largest development in county history, public comment has been nearly empty. Two residents near Koblegard Road spoke against it at the April meeting. Diana Harrison, who has lived on Koblegard Road for 23 years, told the board the area's roads are already overwhelmed. "We don't want zero lot line," she said. "You can touch your neighbor. You can hear them. You can see them."

Commissioner Cathy Townsend has recused herself from both votes, citing a close personal relationship with one of the attorneys representing the developer. The project sits inside her district. With four commissioners voting, a two to two split would not result in a denial. It would simply mean no action is taken.

What's next

The Indrio Groves rezoning and development agreement return to the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners on July 7th, 2026 at 6 p.m. at 2300 Virginia Avenue in Fort Pierce.

💬 This would be the second largest development in St. Lucie County history and almost nobody has shown up to weigh in on it. What do you think should happen with Indrio Groves? Tell us right here.