STUART, Fla. — The Stuart City Commission has temporarily put future developments on hold within the city.
On Monday, commissioners voted 3-1 on a Zoning in Progress (ZIP) resolution, meaning they will not be providing any new building permits.
However, there are two exceptions. The new rules will not impact government buildings or single-family homes.
Commissioners voiced their opinions a Monday night's meeting.
Mayor Campbell Rich was the only person to vote against it.
"This is a jobs killer, and this is a business killer and I don’t see the need for it," Rich said at Monday's meeting.
Commissioner Christopher Collins strongly disagreed.
"Nobody here is trying to take away your property rights. I am not," Collins said. "But there’s a lot of concern from residents and they voted overwhelmingly to try to prevent the further sprawl."
The reason for the pause on future development is to give the city time to make changes to their comprehensive plan and city code. Commissioners explained the ultimate goal is to slow down development in Stuart.
WPTV Treasure Coast reporter Cassandra Garcia dug into how this would impact the community. She asked residents and a developer what this means for them.
"I would like to see slower development mainly because I personally like Stuart the way it is," Stuart resident Barbara Sanford said. "I know it's going to change, change always happens, but I don't want it to come across so fast that we lose the feel of what we have."
"With this stoppage it actually impacts me economically as a builder/developer. It also impacts folks that get jobs from construction related projects, development projects," said Stuart resident and developer Joseph Cooper. "It was very troubling that we've gone down this path of a ZIP process. This can be economically catastrophic for the city of Stuart and while there has been some development and growth, I believe it's been very measured and very controlled."
This will remain in place for at least three months, but commissioners could choose to extend this out to a six-month freeze on future development.