November ___, 2026
Martin County Board of County Commissioners
Chair Sarah Heard, Vice Chair Edward Ciampi, Commissioners Eileen Vargas, Stacey Hetherington and J. Blake Capps
c/o County Administrator Don Donaldson
2401 SE Monterey Road, Stuart, FL 34996
cc: Florida Inland Navigation District Board of Commissioners (Commissioner Michael Kennedy; Executive Director Janet Zimmerman) · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District (Col. Brandon Bowman, Commander; IRL-South Project Manager) · South Florida Water Management District (Drew Bartlett, Executive Director) · Mattamy Homes Southeast Florida Division (Dan Grosswald, President; James Fitzgerald, VP Community Development) · U.S. Representative Brian Mast · Florida State Senator and State Representative for Palm City · Newfield Community Development District Board
Re: Agenda item DEPT-6 (Nov. 10, 2026), "Conservation Easement & Property Donated for an Environmental Parcel" – Petition of Newfield and Palm City residents to table the item and impose conditions before any dredged-material placement at the C-23 / Turnpike site
Dear Commissioners,
We are residents of Newfield, Palm City and the adjacent Becker Road neighborhoods of Port St. Lucie. We support restoring the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon. We do not support the way this decision was made, and we ask you not to accept the deed for the 125-acre "environmental parcel" or amend Newfield's conservation easement on November 10 until the conditions below are written into the instruments you are approving.
What we were promised, and what changed
Newfield was approved in 2020 on a commitment that roughly 70 percent of the community would remain open space and conservation land, and that the developer would design, permit and build a 125-acre treatment marsh along the C-23 canal, usable for recreation, to clean canal water before it reaches the river. In 2024 the County accepted a conservation easement over that open space. Families bought homes on that basis.
On July 28, 2026, on a staff-initiated amendment, this Board voted 5-0 to delete the developer's obligation to build the marsh and to re-designate the land as a site for the placement and management of dredged material: up to 2.4 million cubic yards of river muck across this parcel and the adjoining Florida Inland Navigation District parcel. The minutes record no public comment. No notice reached the residents who live a half mile to a mile away in Newfield, or the Port St. Lucie residents roughly 400 feet across the canal. The County's own presentation states that 60 percent of Newfield's open-space impact fees are credited back to the developer for this land. The developer has been relieved of a construction obligation and retains its credits; the public has been told this is a donation.
Why conditions are necessary
We have been told the muck is mostly clay and silt with nutrients, salt and some copper. We would like that to be true. But the sediment data relied upon dates from 2000 to 2003 and did not fully characterize arsenic, mercury, PCBs or organotins, and peer-reviewed studies from that era found cadmium above typical compost levels, metals that become more soluble as muck dries and acidifies, and legacy pesticides above NOAA sediment screening levels. Researchers attribute muck's odor to hydrogen sulfide released as it is disturbed and dried. At minimum, residents are entitled to current testing that says exactly what would be placed here, published before any approval. Dewatering 2.4 million cubic yards on an open 250-acre basin will take years of continuous pumping, drying and mounding. In Vero Beach, residents are currently objecting to a FIND basin roughly one-fifteenth this size, citing odor, possible contaminants, flooding, mosquitoes and property values. The July amendment contains no conditions addressing any of these risks, no lining or groundwater monitoring, no treatment of decant water returning to the C-23, no haul-route restrictions, no cap on volume and no end date.
What we ask
AT MINIMUM – New testing, published, before the county accepts the deed
- Fresh sediment characterization of the muck proposed for this site (metals including arsenic and mercury, pesticides, PCBs, organotins, salinity), with results posted publicly. The only data we have been shown is from 2000 to 2003.
- Groundwater monitoring wells installed and a baseline sampled before construction, with public quarterly reporting.
- Decant water treated for nitrogen and phosphorus before it returns to the C-23 canal.
- Pipeline delivery only. No muck trucks on Palm City or Newfield roads.
- A hard cap on volume, a defined end date, and a defined end use.
- Written notice and an in-person public meeting for Newfield and the Port St. Lucie (Becker Rd) side before any permit is filed.
BETTER – Postpone the Nov. 10 vote until residents have been heard
- Post the deed and the easement amendment publicly before any vote.
- Draft the conditions above with resident input.
- Martin County, Mattamy, FIND and the Army Corps hold a joint public meeting in Palm City.
- Disclose what the impact-fee credits are worth.
AT MAXIMUM – Return to the original plan: build the treatment marsh and recreation area. No muck here.
- Mattamy designs, permits and builds the 125-acre treatment marsh with recreation it agreed to in 2020.
- The Corps and the county publish the alternative disposal sites they evaluated and choose one that is not next to homes.
- The conservation easement over Newfield's open space stays intact.
Questions we ask the County to answer on the record
- Who first proposed swapping the C-23 treatment marsh for dredged-material storage, and why?
- What are the open-space impact-fee credits for this land worth to Mattamy in dollars?
- Will the muck be tested before it comes here, for what (arsenic, mercury, copper, PCBs, pesticides, organotin boat-paint compounds, salinity), and will residents see the results?
- Will the basin be lined, and will there be groundwater monitoring wells with a baseline taken first?
- Pipeline or trucks, and on what roads?
- Is this a one-time site or permanent? Where does the other 5.5 million cubic yards from the river plan go?
- Will the county hold the Nov. 10 vote so resident input can be written into the deed?
We also request, under Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, copies of the executed deed, the proposed easement amendment, the July 2026 staff report and presentation, and all correspondence among County staff, Mattamy Homes, FIND, SFWMD and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concerning the use of this parcel for dredged material, from January 1, 2025 to the present.
The Army Corps has stated it has no funding, no start date and no selected removal method. There is no urgency that justifies accepting a deed the public has not seen, with no conditions, over the objection of the people who will live beside it. Please table DEPT-6, meet with us, and get this right.
Respectfully,
The undersigned residents of Newfield, Palm City and Port St. Lucie
Signatures (43 collected at stopthemuck.com as of Nov 3, 2026)
| # | Printed name | Neighborhood | Date | Signature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua Barry | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 2 | Marissa Barry | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 3 | Jason abaza | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 4 | Emily Fitzpatrick | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 5 | Samantha Gearhart | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 6 | Janine Malavasi | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 7 | Carrie Green | Palm City Farms | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 8 | Carol Comins | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 9 | Jonathan Younie | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 10 | CJ Fitzpatrick | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 11 | Willo Glynn | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 12 | Irene keelor | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 13 | Christina Ecker | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 14 | Sharon Hedlund | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 15 | Laura Zaragoza | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 16 | Christina Liscinsky | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 17 | Christina Calderaio | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 18 | Francis Russo | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 19 | Samantha Griffith | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 20 | Mari DeMadaler-Horwitz | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 21 | Benjamin Horwitz | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 22 | Beth walsh | Palm City – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 23 | Savanna Dowling | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 24 | Daniela Gaitan | Palm City Farms | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 25 | Jennifer Oak | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 26 | Jordan Gearhart | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 27 | Amber Allen | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 28 | Peter Mooney | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 29 | Emily Bouchard | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 30 | Matt George | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 31 | Angela Calderaio | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 32 | Ashley Mooney | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 33 | Katherine Teubner | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 34 | Jamie Utz | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 35 | Amanda Patalano | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 36 | Jason | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 37 | John Petralito | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 38 | Carlos Kaht | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 39 | Blaike Dumas | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 40 | Jennifer Suler | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 41 | Matthew Bolte | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 42 | Vania Sandt | Newfield – other | Nov 3, 2026 | |
| 43 | Luly Kahr | Newfield – Crossroads | Nov 3, 2026 |
Street addresses and emails are held in the petition database and provided to the Clerk with the printed copy; they are not published here.
Delivery: hand to the Clerk at the Nov. 10 meeting and email to district4@martin.fl.us, district5@martin.fl.us, district1@martin.fl.us, district2@martin.fl.us, district3@martin.fl.us, CountyAdministrator@martin.fl.us, mkennedy@aicw.org, jzimmerman@aicw.org.