Stuart’s Property Rights Crisis: Ignorance, Arrogance, and a Manufactured Mandate
Article Posted on July 11, 2025
Providing reliable, fact-based information to citizens about our government and community.
Dear Friends,
They came into office acting like the rules didn’t apply to them. Opposition was silenced. Experts were ignored. State and local laws were brushed aside. The new City Commission majority - Collins, Giobbi, and Reed - believed stopping growth was as easy as stripping away property rights. With three votes, they wielded unchecked control, convinced no one would be able to push back and that no one was watching.
They were wrong. And the result was the strongest rebuke from the State of Florida in Stuart’s history!
The overreach started immediately. Just days after taking office in August 2024, and without public input or any real planning need, Commissioners Collins, Giobbi, and Reed froze all development across the city.
For the next seven months, representative government vanished. Gone were professional planning principles and legal process - replaced by Facebook policymaking, fake outrage, and decisions driven by likes and hashtags rather than facts and community engagement.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t an exaggeration.
City staff, legal experts, and residents warned the commission that what they were doing was reckless. They didn’t care. Instead, the
commission majority steamrolled ahead, gutting existing property rights - residential, commercial, and multifamily alike. They ignored Florida Statutes. They ignored the Florida Constitution. They even ignored the U.S. Constitution.
This wasn’t policymaking. It was a power grab under the guise of “no growth.”
And the casualties? Smart growth. Local businesses. Community diversity. Economic stability. Affordability. Property values. Water quality. And every Stuart resident who thought they had a say in what happens on their own property and in their own community.
Nowhere was the damage clearer than in East Stuart. Under the new rules, nothing could move forward without going through a lengthy and costly public approval process. Not a permit. Not a small project. Not even opening a barbershop within an existing commercial storefront. Nothing. And residents were told, condescendingly, that it was all “for their own protection.” As if they couldn’t decide for themselves what’s best for their neighborhood. Facebook cheered. Reality suffered.
Here’s the truth: protections were already in place. The city’s code wasn’t perfect, but it worked. And if it needed adjustment, it should have been addressed with the community’s input. What happened wasn’t about fixing policy. It was about control.
The “Overreach Trio” blamed the city’s code for traffic and overdevelopment, ignoring the fact that most of Stuart’s traffic comes from uncontrolled suburban sprawl in the county to the north. There’s been no effort to study or manage that. And when overbuilding occurred within city limits, it was due to exceptions granted by past commissions - not the code itself. All they had to do was enforce the rules already on the books.
Even worse? Commissioner Reed pushed for increased parking requirements in Stuart, just months after personally securing a parking requirement reduction for his own mother’s business. So, the rules should apply to the rest of us but not to him?
City commissioners also declared that East Stuart had “historically” been a single-family neighborhood and proposed forcing it into exclusive, large-lot single-family zoning. That meant no retail, no businesses, no cottages, no mixed-use, no affordable housing. In other words, no future. And their excuse? That limiting the neighborhood’s potential would somehow “help” its residents.
Expert advice wasn’t just ignored. It was treated like a threat.
Fortunately, the State of Florida noticed.
In a rare and decisive move, the state stepped in, forcing the city to roll back the worst of the damage and imposed a legal freeze on any new efforts to reduce property rights until at least October 2027. It’s worth noting that of the 160 members serving in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate, only one person voted against it. You couldn’t get that kind of bipartisan agreement if you asked them to vote on whether the sky was blue!
The law matters. Stuart’s leaders should know better.
If the commission genuinely wants to address growth, it can. But it must follow the law. It must involve the community. And it must respect Stuart’s history and heritage - a legacy built by residents, volunteers, and past leaders who worked together to earn national recognition:
Best Coastal Small Town (USA Today)
Happiest Seaside Town in America (Coastal Living, 2016)
Best Small Town (Smithsonian Magazine)
and many more.
Those awards weren’t handed out for gimmicks or political grandstanding. They were earned - by doing the hard work of planning and community-building, the right way.
Stuart isn’t a sandbox for political experiments. It’s a living, breathing community of people who care. People who won’t sit quietly while their rights are erased and the city is diminished. People who understand that government by social media is no substitute for real governance.
As for the commission majority’s cries of unfair treatment: the only thing the state is doing is enforcing the law. Contrary to the city commission majority’s spin, the state isn’t blocking growth. It’s preventing illegal, unconstitutional local overreach. It’s unfortunate the state had to step in and protect City of Stuart residents and business owners from their own city commissioners – but that’s exactly what was needed.
What can YOU do? Pay attention. Get involved. Let your voice be heard before more damage is done.
And as always, reply to this email and let me know what you think.
Sincerely,
Rick Hartman
Background on Florida Senate Bill 180
Florida's 2025 legislative session saw the passage of House Bill 1535 (HB 1535) and its companion bill Senate Bill 180 (SB 180), comprehensive bills addressing emergency management. This legislation aims to improve the state's ability to respond to and recover from natural emergencies, particularly hurricanes.
Within Senate Bill 180 (SB 180), and as it specifically relates to Martin County and the City of Stuart, the bill freezes new efforts by municipalities to reduce property rights until October 2027. It prohibits local governments from enacting certain regulations:
Issuing a moratorium on construction, reconstruction, or redevelopment of any property damaged by hurricanes.
Adding more restrictive or burdensome amendments to their comprehensive plan or land development code.
Proposing or adopting more restrictive or burdensome procedures concerning the review, approval, or issuance of a site plan, development permit, or development orders.
Crucially, SB 180 is retroactive to August 1, 2024, and applies until October 1, 2027, with the possibility of extension if a hurricane hits. It also empowers residents and businesses to take civil action against local governments that fail to comply.
