- Florida’s Senate Bill 686 took effect July 1, 2026, allowing homes and businesses to be built on qualifying agricultural land.
- Martin County received its first application under the new law on the same day it took effect, for a 396-acre property called Waterside.
- County staff recommended denying the Waterside application, and the applicant later pulled the item from the commission agenda.
A new Florida law is opening the door to residential and commercial development on farmland, and Martin County is already grappling with its first application under the measure. Senate Bill 686, which took effect July 1, 2026, allows landowners to develop properties classified as agricultural enclaves if certain conditions are met.
What Senate Bill 686 Requires of Applicants
Under the law, a property must be surrounded on at least 75% of its boundaries by existing development to qualify as an agricultural enclave. The land must also have been used continuously for legitimate agricultural purposes for at least five years before an application is filed.
Martin County senior planner Jenna Knobbe explained that county staff reviewed property tax records as part of the application process. Staff found that not all parcels in the first application met the agricultural classification requirements set by the property appraiser’s office.
The Waterside Proposal and What Happened Next
On the same day the law took effect, the county received an application for a property known as Waterside. The 396-acre site consists of three parcels located just west of Kanner Highway and south of Southwest 96th Street in Stuart. The initial development plan called for up to 1,200 homes on the property.
County staff recommended denying the enclave designation for the Waterside site based on their review of the property tax records. The proposal was scheduled to come before the Martin County Board of County Commissioners, but the applicant asked for the item to be removed from the agenda before the meeting took place. The property owners declined to comment.
Questions Remain About Local Government Authority
It is still unclear how much power local governments have to push back against the state law. In northeast Florida, St. Johns County commissioners voted last week to ask their county attorney to research whether legal grounds exist to challenge Senate Bill 686.
The law is set to expire on January 1, 2028. With the Waterside application still unresolved and other communities watching closely, the coming months could set important precedents for how farmland on the Treasure Coast is treated under the new measure.
