Myth Vs. Fact

Nothing could be further from the truth. Of all the charges his opponents throw at him, this one is the most absurd - and the easiest to disprove. Tell that to the developers who left his commission hearings empty-handed. Merritt voted no on projects he didn't believe in, fought hard on the ones he couldn't stop, and never once rolled out the welcome mat. Not one project on his record exists because Merritt wanted it there. Every approval was required by law - and in every case where he had any room to push back, he pushed hard. He fought for residents. He fought for the environment. And he never left the table without getting something back for Stuart.

This is the kind of number that sounds damning until you look at where it comes from. Many of those units were approved in 2008 - a full decade before Merritt ever sat on the Commission. Others weren't really "approved" at all: under Florida law, when a development meets existing zoning rules, commissioners have no legal authority to say no. A no vote doesn't stop the project - it just hands the developer a lawsuit the city pays for. Every time Merritt had real power to push back, he did - cutting density, lowering building heights, demanding community benefits. His opponents know this. They're counting on voters not to.

The Costco site was 50 acres of neglected, environmentally compromised land annexed into Stuart two years before Merritt took office. When the project came forward, he negotiated 13 conditions - all paid for by the developer - and avoided adding any residential density to the city. Costco also became Stuart's largest commercial tax contributor, strengthening and diversifying the city's revenue base.

If his opponents spent five minutes reviewing his actual record, they wouldn't dare make this claim. Merritt is a conservationist and environmentalist in the truest sense of those words - not someone who slaps a bumper sticker on his car and calls it a cause, but someone who has spent decades doing the hard, unglamorous work that actually moves the needle.

He co-founded Martin County Forever, the initiative that put land conservation on the ballot and won - convincing 64% of voters to approve a dedicated sales tax to purchase and protect natural lands before they could be lost to development. More than 3,000 acres have been saved as a result. He continues to serve on the oversight committee that manages those acquisitions today.

He spent four years as Stuart's official representative in the federal negotiations governing how Lake Okeechobee is managed - sitting across the table from the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District, working alongside Congressman Mast's office and other advocates, and helping secure an agreement that prevents major discharges into the St. Lucie River unless the lake reaches a critical threshold. That agreement has real positive impacts on our water, our coastline, and our way of life.

At the local level, he fought for natural shoreline buffers, rain gardens, and water quality testing in city parks. He blocked a development feature that would have broken Stuart's four-story height limit and set a precedent that could have reshaped our skyline.

He has also served for years as president of Indian River Keeper, dedicating himself to protecting and restoring the Indian River Lagoon, North America's most diverse estuary. As a governing board member of the Rivers Coalition, he continues that fight, working to stop harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River and preserve the natural resources that define life on the Treasure Coast.

Merritt is the real deal when it comes to protecting Martin County and the City of Stuart's natural lands.