CRA Resurrection
Renewed attention to Mapp Road
2
3
Soap Box Derby Racey science
Hypochondria hijinx Farce at the Barn
31
PALM CITY/TESORO
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 4/ISSUE 22
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016
Costco isn’t just raising hackles, it’s also raising voices Adam Laten Willson
FOR YOUR VOICE NEWS & VIEWS
Sound Chamber of Commerce will hold one of the earliest candidate forums of the local voting season. It’ll include candidates for County Commission districts 1, 3 and 5. While commissioners must live in their districts, vot-
PALM CITY — Last September, when Costco was readying an application to build on Martin Highway near the Turnpike, Samantha Capaldo, a business graduate and Palm City mother, started a Facebook page called “Stop Costco at 714 and High Meadow,” insisting that the proposed development was in the wrong spot. Now, the forum has more than 1,700 Facebook members, and several community action campaigns have taken shape from it. It has spawned a Go Fund Me account that aims to raise funds for a private traffic study in counterpoint to Costco’s. There is also a Change.org petition with 830 supporters that the group hopes will represent public interest to Growth Management. There are buttons, bumper stickers, and soon to be T-shirts. Kelly Middleton, a teacher at Bessey Creek who has lived in Palm City for 22 years, says the group has grown exponentially over the last six months, sometimes adding 100 members in a single night. It’s not just about stopping Costco in Palm City, she says. “It’s about trying to preserve the way of life as we have come to love it here.” “There has to be change,” says Middleton, “and it’s hard to accept, but this just doesn’t fit with Palm City. It’s too big. So I decided that I could sit back and complain, or I could try and do something. Either I was going to have to expend my efforts moving or fight this, and I chose to fight.” Costco plans to develop a
See COMMISSION page 8
See COSTCO page 12
Photo courtesy of Kelly Middleton Several integral members of Stop Costco at 714 and High Meadow demonstrate at the site where Costco plans to build in Palm City. Since Sept. 2015, this group has been vocal at commissioners’ and local planning agency meetings, insisting that the chosen location is not right for the big box giant. From Left: Bryan McAninley, Kelly Middleton, Jon Gray, Jim Serra, Lauretta Pfister Kastelic, Samantha Capaldo, and Lois Brown.
Commission candidates get ready to rumble Patrick McCallister STAFF WRITER
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
MARTIN COUNTY — The Martin County Commission has three seats on the roulette wheel, and any one of those races could change the playbook on a host
of local issues. At press time, all announced candidates are Republican, meaning if others don’t jump into any of the races, they’ll be decided in universal primaries in August. In the words of ring announcer Michael Buffer, “Let’s get ready to rumble.” On Thursday, April 7, the Hobe
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