MARTIN COUNTY — If the Martin County Commission approves changes to the shoreline protection law next week, 28 properties with seawalls and hardened shorelines could develop marinas and restaurants within 20 feet of the water.

The change would allow the properties in Community Redevelopment Areas to expand within the current 20-foot wide protection buffer on hardened shorelines. The amendment includes a 10-foot construction setback for principal structures.

Commissioner Doug Smith, who proposed the change, said the amendment will allow waterfront properties to complete shoreline projects that could stimulate business. The waterfront was fruitful for development before the current shoreline protection law passed in the 1990s.
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FORT PIERCE — After Julia Rolon-Estrada died of a gunshot wound to the artery in her leg on July 26, 2006, she was wrapped in a blue tarp and again in a green blanket before being buried in the yard of her Port St. Lucie home, near a rear sliding glass door.

A dog trained to find cadavers helped authorities locate the newly tilled grave, which was covered with a wooden pallet holding 20 mulch bags stacked on top.

Rolon-Estrada’s jailed husband, 43-year-old Albert Estrada, state prosecutors say, is the man guilty of killing his wife and high-school sweatheart, who had walked out on him the night before she died at age 39.
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PORT SALERNO — Ann Gunsolus can’t bear the thought of losing her home, even though it’s a makeshift campsite in a privately owned woods a stone’s throw from U.S. 1.

“Cry: That’s what I do so far is cry,” Gunsolus said, while thinking about where she will go when the authorities evict the homeless people from the woods. “When you have nothing, there’s not much you can do.”

Gunsolus and more than a dozen other homeless men and women fear sheriff’s deputies will roust them as soon as Thursday from the patchwork of tents and tarps they call home. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — City officials are looking for proposals from restaurateurs interested in operating the food, beverage and banquet facilities at the Saints of Port St. Lucie Golf Course.

The restaurateur chosen will operate the main kitchen, grill room and bar, snack bar, patio service, sale of alcoholic beverages, snacks and drinks for the concession cart. There also will be a possibility of catering food and beverages for meetings, conferences and special events.

The Saints facilities, located at 2601 S.E. Morningside Blvd., are currently run by Josef’s Restaurant and encompass 9,400-square-feet of space, including a kitchen, banquet room, grill, bar, office, screened terrace, banquet storage room and restrooms. The banquet room seats about 152 guests.

City officials plan to hold an informational meeting at 2 p.m. Jan. 6 in the Office of Management and Budget in City Hall, Building A, third floor, Suite 390. City Hall is located at 121 S.W. Port St. Lucie Blvd. The requirements for proposals will be explained at the meeting, with a tour of the Saints facility following. (more…)