Hutchinson Island residents sue county for approving drug treatment facility

Hutchinson Island residents sue county for approving drug treatment facility

St. Lucie County, Fl- Residents of South Hutchinson Island have filed a lawsuit against St. Lucie County’s recent site approval for a 220 bed facility.

From the Go-Fund me site:

“A lawsuit has been filed against St. Lucie County seeking both a declaratory judgement and injunctive relief. Our claim is that the recent County approval to rezone 22 acres on this barrier island from Residential to a Planned Non-Residential Development in order to accommodate the building of a 220-bed drug and alcohol treatment center is not consistent with our local Comprehensive Plan.
After legal review of County staff memorandums, traffic reports, zoning and land use designations and environmental concerns, it is apparent that exceptions were made by the County that may not comply with the applicable law.

We live on a unique barrier island located in south St. Lucie County. It is a residential area with a low population density. People have moved here, relying on the area’s Comprehensive Plan maintaining the area as residential. With the County’s recent decision to allow the building of a 220-bed facility, the overall landscape of this island will be forever changed.

We are requesting that the Court declare the County ‘s approval of the Subject Development to be void, invalid and inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan. In addition, we are asking the Court to permanently prevent the County from implementing the development order(s) by any means.”

Update:

UPDATE AS OF JULY 18TH, 2019

“Currently we are in the Discovery phase. Our attorney Mr. Barkett and his staff are reviewing all pertinent FOIA requested documents from the County. The next step will be submitting interrogatories to the County. Depositions may also be required.

This will be a lengthy process but we strongly believe that our County Commissioners “got this decision wrong.” According to our Comprehensive Plan, this parcel of land was always intended to remain residential and not to be re-zoned non-residential. Building a 220-bed hospital on this barrier island will create many adverse effects to our residents’ health and safety, public services, densities or intensities of development, health care facilities and environmental or natural resources.”

We can preserve this rare barrier island’s beauty and tranquility if we stand together and fight back against this very wrong decision made by 5 County Commissioners…a decision contrary to the majority of the local residents and that of the Planning/Zoning Board’s unanimous decision against building a 220-bed hospital on this island.

We may be only little people fighting against 5 people in power…but voices need to be heard. We have a great attorney who knows how to fight this fight…but we need continued financial support. As of this date, we have raised $13,000 but are projecting a need for an additional $13,000. Please feel free to contact Cindy at cwdvm1@gmail.com with any questions you may have regarding this project.”