St. Lucie County Watchdog Reporter Wicker Perlis remembers being at a Fort Pierce City Commission meeting when the massive proposed development at Causeway Cove first came up.
Immediately, it was clear something was different. Members of the City Commission complained there was nothing they could do to stop developers’ plans.
Less than 10 days after Perlis’ first story, an overflow crowd sat in the hallway outside of a city Technical Review Committee meeting where the project was being discussed. These technical review meetings usually don’t draw reporters, let alone dozens of angry residents. The story was now on Perlis’ radar whenever he drove around the region, taking new interest in where buildings towered above him, and where none did at all.
Why was this an important local story to report?
Pretty soon after the Causeway Cove project was first discussed in Fort Pierce, it became clear that the Live Local Act would not be of interest only to Sunrise City residents for long. In fact, it may be of even more interest to those on the Treasure Coast outside of St. Lucie County than to St. Lucie residents.
Martin and Indian River counties both have relatively strict height limits, including in their cities. Fort Pierce has very similar height limits, not city or countywide, but in the specific area where Causeway Cove is located. If developers can get around Fort Pierce’s rules using the new law, the height limits that Martin and Indian River counties have long held to may be in jeopardy. That’s what made this a story across the Treasure Coast.
Explain how you reported this story.
I had already done some research on tall buildings and signs for a story I did on St. Lucie County changing its sign-height rules to allow a 100-foot sign for the proposed Buc-ee’s at Interstate 95 and Indrio Road. I had also already done a lot of background research on the Live Local Act. The reporting on this story primarily included verifying the heights of the buildings I already knew about, and doing research to see if there were any structures I was missing.
What challenges did you face while reporting this story?
Getting exact heights for these structures is sometimes hard. For example, the best height I was able to identify for the silos at the Port of Fort Pierce was “about 200 feet.” In some cases, answers showed up when I least expected them. Former Fort Pierce Mayor Bob Benton previously had mentioned the exact height of the containment buildings at St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant. He helped build them. I remembered that, and went back to my recording of the interview.
What surprised you about this story?
I was surprised to learn that the WQCS radio tower at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce is 500 feet tall, and that the second-tallest structure on the Treasure Coast is a another communications tower in Martin County. I don’t know about you, but I tend to ignore things like radio and cellphone towers. They blend into the background. Now, though, every time I drive near IRSC in Fort Pierce, I notice that tower.
What’s next with this topic?
This topic likely will continue to be reported for years to come, as more and more developers attempt to build under the Live Local Act requirements, and as pressure mounts from local leaders for the Legislature to change the law.
Wicker Perlis is TCPalm’s Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at wicker.perlis@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Behind the story: St. Lucie Watchdog Reporter looks into tallest buildings, future changes
Reporting by Wicker Perlis, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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