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INDIANTOWN, Fla. (CBS12) — The Martin County School District (MCSD) and Indian River State College (IRSC) unveiled their newest charter high school on Wednesday in Indiantown.

The school called Indiantown High School (IHS), is geared toward career and technical education. But it also allows students to be dually enrolled at IRSC and high school starting as early as 9th grade. Students attending can earn their associate's degree before graduating high school.

IRSC President Timothy Moore says the school was built in an underserved region of Martin County because until now, the community of Indiantown didn't have a high school.

"This high school represents a traditional high school pathway, a collegiate acceleration pathway as well as vocational technical training pathways. So basically, this is the gateway for any young person in Indiantown in Western Martin County to be able to get their start," said Moore.

IHS is a 61,700-square-foot college preparedness and workforce education public charter high school featuring technologically advanced, immersive learning spaces.

The Martin County School District (MCSD) and Indian River State College (IRSC) unveiled their newest charter high school on Wednesday in Indiantown. CBS12 News Amber Raub reports.< > (WPEC)

The over $25 million project was built with the goal of those graduating being ready to go directly into the workforce.

To accomplish this MCSD and IRSC are integrating high school curriculum with college courses, all to help fill a need.

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MCSD Superintendent, Michael Maine says students who attend IHS will be able to learn trades and get certifications.

“We need so many vocational positions throughout the community, and this high school is geared towards providing those vocational opportunities for students," said Supt. Maine.

These opportunities include multiple career and technical certifications:

The funds for the $25 million project came from the state of Florida ($5.3 million), Plus Property Lease, from Martin County ($3 million), IRSC Foundation ($15 million), and m Mr. and Mrs. Charles Johnston ($10 million). Johnston's donation played a key role in how the school was able to be built in a little over a year.

“This is a very exciting moment in time for Indiantown. The landscape here is gonna change considerably all for the better," said Johnston.

The school has the following features:

Before the school was built, the closest high school for students in Indiantown was South Fork High School in Stuart.

“This is where they can come, they don't have to ride a bus 45 minutes from Eastern Martin County to come home. They can come home to their hometown school," said Moore.

The school will have a smaller feel, with the student body not exceeding 400 students and a cap of 100 students per grade.

“They will provide all the same math science curriculum that a traditional school would offer. So we just encourage students if you're interested in a smaller feel, atmosphere, high school and you want to be a part of something great, that's just getting started and having a new tradition, then come out and register at Indiantown High School," said Supt. Maine.

Students also have the option to graduate by December of their junior year with the 24/18 CTE & Accelerated Standard Diploma option.

Indiantown High School is one of two public charter high schools that IRSC operates in Martin County in partnership with the Martin County School District. IRSC’s Clark Advanced Learning Center, a public charter high school on the College’s Chastain Campus in Stuart, opened in 2004. Clark is among the top-scoring Treasure Coast schools based on Florida’s school grading system and the top 20 high schools in all of Florida.

The school officially opens its doors to students on August 9.

Traditional high school curriculum is taught alongside workforce and college courses, producing graduates that can directly pursue career opportunities or college upon graduation. Students must register to attend. You can learn how to apply here.

INDIANTOWN — An ammunition manufacturing company with operations in Stuart is planning to expand here, with its eye on producing up to a billion primers a year.

Grind Hard Ammo started production of copper shell casings last month in its Stuart facility and plans to produce primer, an explosive substance that energizes the powder in the case of each shell, at its proposed Indiantown facility. The company sells ammunition primarily to law enforcement and the military but has retail ammunition on its website.

The proposed facility — regulated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — would be on the north side of Southwest Farm Road at Silver Fox Lane, according to plans. The roughly 19-acre property would have a 26,116-square-foot facility with 800 feet of explosives storage separate from the main building.

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Even though the company's plans comply with village development codes and other regulations, the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board last month still showed resistance to the project. The board recommended Village Council approval by a 4-3 vote after Chair Vernestine Palmer walked back her original objections.

“I just really don’t believe that this is the community for it. That’s my opinion,” she said at the Feb. 2 meeting.

Board member Karen Onsager told her colleagues she understood concerns about the project, but urged them to separate their personal sentiments from their analysis of the project's code compliance.

“None of the evidence shows that this is a danger to our community whatsoever. It could be a substantial boost to our community, with tax revenue and with jobs, which we desperately need,” Onsager said.

The Village Council is to consider the project March 9.

Explosives and regulations

Questioned about the potential for an explosion, Grind Hard Ammo co-owner Austin Weiss told board members the chemical process of producing the primer happens “within a very big concrete blast wall” that directs the material “to go up, not out” in the event of an explosion.

Moreover, site plans show any explosion would stay within the property.

“In the very worst-case scenario, nothing will be affected. The blast zone completely stays on the property, and it doesn’t even reach the road,” Barry Skolnick, principal of Grind Hard Ammo, told TCPalm. “If you follow protocol, it’s a very safe procedure.”

Nearby properties include Florida Power & Light Co.’s former Indiantown Cogeneration Plant and the adjacent land slated for its Monarch Solar Energy Center. The closest residential community is Joseph L. Lee Gardens Apartments about a mile east.

Martin County Fire Marshal Doug Killane told TCPalm county and state regulations tend to overlap with ATF’s for a development such as this. Killane’s main responsibilities are to assure site access for emergency vehicles and sufficient water flow, in addition to certifying sprinkler and fire alarm plans.

“There’s got to be available water on site, whether it’s through municipal water supply or some other means: pumps, tanks, whatever it takes in order to provide water in case there was a fire incident,” Killane said.

The development is the first of its kind in Martin County since 2009, when he started in his position, he said.

“There’s storage facilities that have stored premade ammunition, and they just brought it in on pallets," Killane said. "But this is the first time in my history with the county that we’ve actually been looking at plans for ammunition assembly.”

Lina Ruiz is TCPalm's watchdog reporter for Martin County. You can reach her at l[email protected], on Twitter @Lina_Ruiz48 or at 321-501-3845.

If you tuned in to watch Wheel of Fortune on Feb. 17, you might have been one of the few people who could point out where Indiantown is on a map.

During the show's Sweetheart Week, Miller and Alicia Exantus competed to be the lucky winners of that evening's episode. Miller said he was born and raised in Indiantown, and met his wife while they were students at Florida State University.

The couple, who now lives in Palmetto in Manatee County on Florida's west coast, have been married for five years and have two daughters, he said on the show.

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The Exantuses did not immediately respond to TCPalm's request for comment.

Miller Exantus told Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak that he and his wife had promised their daughters they would win and bring back a unicorn. Unfortunately, the couple did not win.

Jay and Jennifer Chalk of Arkansas won the game that consisted of 10 rounds of word puzzles. They took home a cash prize of $20,310.

If you missed the episode, you can watch it here.

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm's underserved communities reporter. You can contact her at [email protected], 772-409-1429 or follow her on Twitter @gmontesano13. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

INDIANTOWN — After a split discussion and vote during a recent Village Council meeting, potential candidates for the interim village manager position were given two weeks to submit their applications after the abrupt resignation of Howard Brown this month.

He resigned Dec. 8 after almost four years in the position. He was the village's first manager after its incorporation in late 2017; hired in January 2019 after a nationwide search.

In a 3-2 vote at a special meeting Dec. 15, the council approved a search for the temporary position with the help of the Florida City and County Management Association and the Florida League of Cities. Candidates have until Dec. 29 to apply, and the council will discuss applications at its Jan. 12 meeting.

Mayor Susan Gibbs Thomas and Council Member Carmine Dipaolo voted against the search after a tense discussion about village staff’s recommendation to appoint Parks and Recreation Director Deborah Resos as the interim village manager.

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Council Member Guyton Stone told Gibbs Thomas he felt that she deceived the public by asking staff to discuss an internal recommendation for interim manager without notifying council members beforehand. Village Attorney Wade Vose confirmed he was not notified of the direction given by Gibbs Thomas.

“I’m truly disappointed in that. I feel like you’re trying to take things in your own hands, and not having the council do what needs to be done. And that’s not how this government is supposed to be running,” Stone said at the meeting.

When Gibbs Thomas asked Vose if she had done anything wrong when asking staff to discuss a recommendation, Vose said it was at the discretion of Acting Village Manager Susan Owens “to determine whether or not to bring it up, discuss it, come back with any sort of recommendation or what have you.”

Council Member Janet Hernández agreed with Stone’s comments, adding that existing village staff are already overloaded and should stay in their current position.

“I thank Ms. Resos for trying to step in, but I really think that Indiantown is too new to have someone that does not have the experience. We can’t afford one penny or one decision to go wrong, and then it just will all crumble down,” Hernández said.

Dipaolo and Gibbs Thomas both voiced support for Resos.

“I know that staff is definitely overworked, but your staff has come together, and the council is not listening to what your overwhelmed staff has requested, what they have said, and what their recommendation is,” Gibbs Thomas said.

Moreover, the council was split in its decision on how to recruit a permanent village manager.

Council members pushed the discussion to the Jan. 12 meeting after a motion failed, in a 3-2 vote, to have the Florida City and County Management Association spearhead the search.

Stone and Hernández were the two votes in favor of using the association.

Lina Ruiz is TCPalm's watchdog reporter for Martin County. You can reach her at [email protected], on Twitter @Lina_Ruiz48 or at 321-501-3845.

Indiantown residents opted for some new representation, electing two newcomers and reelecting one incumbent to the Village Council in the area's second election since incorporating in 2018.

Challenger Carmine Dipaolo beat incumbent Anthony Dowling by 19%, challenger Angelina Perez beat incumbent Jacqueline Clarke by 5% and incumbent Susan Gibbs Thomas beat challenger Janet Rosado by 35%, according to unofficial results from the Martin County elections office.

Two of three winners of the Aug. 23 primary election are multigenerational Indiantown natives who have seen their work affect the livelihoods of their own family and friends:

2022 election:TCPalm's complete coverage

Editorial Board:Recommendations for Indiantown Village Council

Questionnaires:How Martin County candidates answered them

Nonpartisan municipal elections typically don't involve large sums of money. Dipaolo and Thomas outspent and outraised their opponents in campaign financing:

Seat 4

Seat 5

Village Council members, who will be sworn in Sept. 8, are paid $10,000 a year plus reimbursements and/or per diems for business travel and conferences.

In the next four years, they will face a host of ongoing issues, including water management, infrastructure needs, rising real estate costs and a lack of affordable housing in this small, rural, lower-income, agricultural community of 6,650 residents.

Water and wastewater

Residents have long complained about their drinking water appearing brown and reeking of chlorine, so they had to spend their own money on costly filters.

With the help of state grants, the village purchased a water treatment facility for $8.5 million in 2020 and since has poured $18 million into modernizing it, according to a village newsletter.

But the water quality still needs improvement, some residents and council candidates said. Miguel Garcia, an Indiantown resident of 25 years, told TCPalm the water is tinted green, despite his having a water softener in his home.

The water and wastewater treatment plants, which had not been upgraded since 1957, still need improvements estimated to cost $9.4 million and $13 million, respectively.

Flooding and stormwater drainage have also been longtime problems caused by poor infrastructure. Indiantown is tackling part of that problem with a $2.2 million drainage project in the Booker Park neighborhood in the southwest part of the village, which began in January and is estimated to be completed by December.

Indiantown Village Hall

Another priority for some residents and council candidates is building a Village Hall.

Indiantown, which incorporated in 2017, spends about $3,225 a month leasing office space at 15516 Southwest Osceola St. The lease expires July 31, 2024.

The Village Council bought a 5.1-acre parcel at Southwest Warfield Boulevard and Southwest Seminole Drive, where it plans to build a Village Hall with a community center and a public gym, fitness center and baseball and soccer fields, records show.

Indiantown paid $32,017 for REG Architects of West Palm Beach to design the project, estimated to cost $15 million to $18 million, plus $3.8 million if the council opts for a three-story building instead of two.

The Village Council has not approved funding for a Village Hall yet, and is facing a 5% drop in revenue because it lowered property taxes the past two years.

Housing and development

In Martin County last year, Indiantown and surrounding properties in its 34956 ZIP code saw the largest increase in single-family home sales: up 81% in Indiantown and 127% in the 34956 ZIP code. The average sale price increased about 57% increase.

The potential for overdevelopment and gentrification amid Florida's runaway real estate market is a concern for Indiantown. Development could price out locals as more affluent homebuyers who are flocking to the Sunshine State amid the coronavirus pandemic are paying well over the asking price — and in cash.

In Indiantown, the median income is $43,406, with 24.3% of the population living in poverty. The population is 65% Latino, 41% white and 17% Black, with 25% of residents being foreign-born, census data shows.

There's plenty of room to grow, as over 5,000 of the village's 8,734 acres remain vacant.

Two recent developments have been built, two are under construction, three have been approved, four are under review and three are in the pre-application phase:

Completed developments

Under construction

Approved development

Under review

Pre-application

The largest residential development is the Terra Lago project being planned by the Garcia Group of Virginia. The investment group plans to build over 2,700 homes plus 100,000 square feet of commercial space within 10 years on 806 acres in northeastern Indiantown bordered by:

Thomas promised to investigate ways the village can help residents afford housing, as Indiantown currently relies on nonprofits for such assistance.

"We do not have any programs," Thomas said. "It is a concern moving forward. We do not want people priced out."

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm's underserved communities reporter. You can contact her at [email protected], 772-409-1429 or follow her on Twitter @gmontesano13.