ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — St. Lucie County commissioners recently gave initial approval to one of the biggest housing developments in decades, but the location for Oak Ridge Ranches had Port St. Lucie leaders nervous.
It's quiet, for the most part, along Rangeline Road right now.
But for Treasure Coast AirPark residents like Anthony and Sabrina Sodano, they will have thousands of neighbors in the coming years.
"We know that it's coming our way, but in the meantime, you have to keep up with the infrastructure, and they just don't do that," Sabrina Sodano said.
So when Kolter Homes brought a plan for 8,600 new homes in St. Lucie County, it wasn't just the Sodanos who went "wow."
"Where are these people going to shop? Because commercial follows residential and it’s usually a few years after the houses go in," Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin said.
Martin said even though the Oak Ridge Ranches development was out of the city limits, her staff worked with St. Lucie County to come up with a plan.
So, the city and the county worked together with the developer where the developer would pay for some of the needed infrastructure improvements.
"They're going to four-lane Crosstown Parkway and at a different trigger point, make improvements to Community Boulevard as well," Martin said.
There's also money to go toward improving the intersection at Range Line and Glades Cut Off Road.
"It's going to help us restructure the infrastructure out there. They’re giving us $14 million towards Glades Cut Off Road," St. Lucie County Commission Chair Cathy Townsend said.
Kolter Senior Vice President of Planning and Entitlement Scott Morton told NewsChannel 5 that while the company was not obligated to fund the improvements, it just made more sense to help out with the future area roadway network.
It's an appreciated partnership.
"Because most developers would never have agreed to what they agreed to," Townsend said.
Anthony Sodano agrees there are some positives to growth, however.
"With it, you get good and bad. You get convenience," Anthony Sodano said, "but then you get sound, noise and light pollution. The traffic is already here."