Indian River County Comprehensive Plan Indian River County’s corridor preservation practices are described in a section of the Transportation Element titled “Right-of-Way and Corridor Protection.” The County implements minimum right-of-way standards, maintains an inventory of parcels subject to Murphy Act 1 right-of-way reservations (Figure 9), and coordinates with developers through the county’s Technical Review Committee process to acquire right-of-way. The Committee is made up of staff members representing the Indian River County Planning Division, Public Works Department, Traffic Engineering Division, Engineering Division, Utility Services Department, and the Department of Health. Input may also be requested from other county divisions and governmental agencies as needed. The Indian River County Community Development Director chairs the Technical Review Committee. The County also maintains a right-of-way needs map called the Extended Roadway Grid Network. This map shows collector and arterial rights-of-way on existing roadways, as well as logical extensions of those roadways to undeveloped portions of the county. It replaced what was previously called a Thoroughfare plan map, which generally applied only to roadways with the urban service area. An increase in low-density, non-urban uses outside the urban service area created a potential for extension of the grid system in the future. In anticipation of eventual changes to the land use plan to allow higher densities, the county adopted this new map that extends its grid system beyond the urban service area. Staff identified the robust grid system as a clear strength of their thoroughfare plan, as it distributes traffic more evenly and reduces overall congestion. The grid also allows buses to circulate more efficiently and use roadways other than primary routes like US 1, so they are closer to the population of riders. In addition, the County does not charge a fare for transit use and this has resulted in high rates of ridership.
1 Chapter 18296, Laws of Florida (1937) is also known as the Murphy Act. In response to the Florida Land Boom of the early 1920s, the Land Bust of 1926, and the worldwide Depression of the 1930s, the Act provided for forfeiture of lands for nonpayment of property taxes. Tax certificates were issued to landowners who failed to pay their taxes. If the taxes were not paid by June 9, 1939, title to the land went to the state and these lands were then administered by the Board of Trustees. Whenever the Board of Trustees sold these lands, they retained certain oil and mineral interests as well as a reservation of right-of-way 100 feet on either side of the centerline of any state road associated with the land. Many of these roads have been transferred to County jurisdiction as have the reservation of the Murphy Deed road rights-of-way. The reservations are based on the location of the centerline of the road at the time of reservation.
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