Village Continues to Move Forward with Infrastructure Improvements
Indiantown, FL – The Village of Indiantown public infrastructure improvement programs will receive a $18 million boost when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the House appropriations HB 5001 into law. The bill appropriates much-needed funds to improve and upgrade the obsolete and failing wastewater facility.
Indiantown Mayor Jacqueline Gary Clarke said, “Improving our utility services has always been a priority since incorporation. We will continue to be diligent in turning over every rock necessary to obtain all the funding needed to get the work done.”
Although only four years young as a municipality, its infrastructure dates back decades when it was part of unmaintained areas of unincorporated Martin County.
The $18 million will fund more than half of the water and sewer improvements to upgrade the obsolete and failing wastewater facility’s design and construction of a safe, reliable, modern, and environmentally sound collection and pumping system for Indiantown that serves the over 7,000 residents and businesses operating at the heart of the community.
Indiantown acquired the utility company, Indiantown Company Inc., and its facilities in 2020 for $8.5 million with funding from a State Revolving Loan from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). The Village, in turn, received more than 75% loan forgiveness and 0% interest on half of the loan and .15% interest on the other half with a 30-year payback term. The plant had not been upgraded since 1957.
Indiantown is in the St. Lucie Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) and runs adjacent to the St. Lucie canal with nutrient impacts directly into the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), an impaired waterbody. The Village seeks to create a facility that provides increased service and reliability to residents and provides for a reduction of Total Daily Maximum Loads (TMDL) entering state waters due to the improved water quality resulting from an improved centralized sewer system. The project will decrease nutrients and work towards clean-up of the IRL and to prevent harmful algal blooms.
“Addressing these critical and monumental projects requires a well-established tax base and reserves, which we do not yet have established,” continued Mayor Clarke. “We want to thank State Senator Gayle Harrell, Garcia Property Group, Kevin Powers, and others. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their hard work on our behalf,” Mayor Clarke said.