ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — A proposed development in an unincorporated area west of Fort Pierce is concerning some area residents.
Developers are targeting an area located near the intersection of Indrio and Taylor Dairy roads in western St. Lucie County to build what they're calling Indrio Woods.
Laura Lucas and Keith Busch live less than a mile down the road. They've seen how much of the area change since they first moved in.
"All of Indrio, there was nothing here almost to U.S. 1 on Idrio," Laura Lucas said. "It was just all wooded area."
Indrio Woods is one of half a dozen projects proposed in the area.
"It's the first multifamily development proposed in the Lakewood Park area in some time," Kori Benton, planning manager for the St. Lucie County Planning & Development Services, said. "Roughly 32 acres in size, it's in a U-shape linking from Indrio Road to Taylor Dairy Road to the east. The north side of it is surrounding the Binney Estate."
Some residents like Lucas find the plans upsetting.
"It has a lot of historical significance to it, and for them to just come out there and just build three-story townhouses all around it, it's gonna destroy it," Laura Lucas said. "It's gonna destroy the whole atmosphere of it."
The board of county commissioners held a lengthy discussion Tuesday night during their regular meeting, suggesting the developer come back with a lower-density plan and more preservation than was originally proposed.
"Indrio Woods is a proposed planned unit development for rental apartments, 274 units, a mix of seven buildings, one building being two stories, and six being three stories in height," Benton said.
Lucas said her biggest concern aside from destroying the natural habitat is that the development will cause more traffic.
"This road down here is just way too crowded as it is," Laura Lucas said. "They're going to have just more and more people coming down this road. That's gonna really increase the traffic on this road."
Lucas added that while she's not against development, she's glad the county is doing something to slow it down and preserve the green space they have now.
"What we moved here for and what we wanted shouldn't be taken because somebody wants to come in and concrete every bit of land that we have," Laura Lucas said.