Education, Hobe Grove, I-95

"Let Education Anchor Hobe Grove’s Future" by v. johns, 6/18/11, 1:24 AM

I just finished reading another article on the proposed Hobe Grove development being pitched by Becker Companies for land it owns near Hobe Sound in Martin county. Project representative Tom Nichols told the Stuart News that unlike Tradition in Port St. Lucie or Abacoa in Jupiter, Hobe Grove will bring jobs and education first and that building any homes depends on whether or not a university or corporation can be lured to anchor the project. (Ref: The Stuart News, Fri., June 17, 2011: “Anchor to make or break Hobe Grove”).

I find this approach to be not only in line with my own thinking (that shrinking industrial space should be favored over adding to an already high inventory of homes), but also a refreshing departure from the haphazard “Build it and they will come” approach to home building in the last decade. According to the Palm Beach Post, many of Southeast Florida’s counties are running short on land that can be zoned for industrial use. With more homes being built on this land, the potential for future economic expansion outside limited residential construction (film studios, biotech, small businesses, etc.) could be harmed.

In considering a choice of anchor for the proposed community, I believe a college or university would be the best choice for several reasons:

• First, a college or university would be in line with the higher-education corridor being formed along I-95 in the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast. In St. Lucie county, Indian River State College and Florida Atlantic University are near I-95. In Martin county, Indian River State College is not far from I-95. In Palm Beach county, Palm Beach State College, Nova Southeastern University, Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Lynn University, and coming soon Florida State University’s digital animation college, are all located either very close to or directly off of I-95. Like Palm Beach county, Martin would do well to have educational institutions on display from our region’s most traveled roadway.
• Second, having a college or university with strong research capabilities would compliment two other corridors being formed along I-95 throughout Southeast Florida. The Scripps Florida-anchored biotechnology corridor has brought along with it University of Oregon’s VGTI, Max Planck, Torrey Pines and several biotechnology companies developing products for the market. The Digital Domain-anchored film and entertainment corridor will bring with it film and television studios and other supporting industries.
• Third, many educational institutions are known as “incubators” for fledgling, enterprising startups and individuals. Several years ago, Florida Atlantic University, in response to the arrival of Scripps Florida, began to bolster its lab space for individuals seeking to start businesses, particularly in the biotech field. With minimal overhead and the ability to conduct research and development on a small scale, the potential for innovative companies to start in and grow out of the basement, so to speak, and add valuable home-grown business and industry to our local, regional and state economies are all but limitless. 
• Fourth, educational institutions are excellent boosters for mass transit outfits. No matter what college or university you can name in any part of the state, there are always invariably problems with parking. Busy-as-a-bee and highly-social college students, while preferring to drive, have no problem taking the bus if it gets them to class on time and prevents the accumulation of parking-violation tickets. Not to mention the many games and tournaments that many sporting events draw the community at large out to.

      

In addition to the above considerations, I would suggest several ways to approach proceeding to build the project. First, I think that the project should be built in such a way that it appears to have been a part of Martin county all along. Many of the newer areas in our county are so fresh and new that they, in my opinion, actually mar the overall relaxed, laid back feel of our area. A project of this size should blend in with the overall character of the county. Second, I’d recommend the project taking a similar approach to the Palm Beach Gardens area in Palm Beach County by avoiding the building of big box retail outfits that will not only take business and charm away from Hobe Sound, but will also create unnecessary overlap in retail services. Look for new types of businesses for the county such as theme parks or waterparks that will compliment, not detract business from, other communities in our county.

Regarding that last point, new urbanism be dammed. Build this and that as close to home as you may, people will travel far and wide to acquire economic or social satisfaction (The local challenge of inter-regional mobility). So the idea would be to make sure our surface transportation outfits can handle the facilitation of that need or preference we have to travel regionally.

I have no firm opinion, one way or the other, on whether this project is good for our county or not. At this time, I’m just impressed with the approach being taken by the proposers of this project to add to Martin county’s industrial base before luring residents here to live.

This project, along with the proposed Harmony Ridge project also mentioned in the article, will no doubt change the character of the county, but in a way that the irresponsible Future Group of Martin County failed to envision. If done right, Martin can still prosper from these new towns without looking and feeling like “the rest of South Florida” (Palm Beach, Broward and Dade). In the meantime, let’s hope that no matter what is decided upon as an anchor, it will bring untold prosperity to our area.