Items of Interest on next week’s Board of County Commissioners Agenda
Item 1 – Bella Terra PUD
Located in District 3, the Bella Terra PUD Request is to rezone 26 acres of land from Open Rural to Commercial Intensive for a multifamily residential development with a maximum of 174 units. Concerns raised at the Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) meeting in November included proposed road improvements and impact fees. Resident concerns were raised about drainage, traffic, and safety. This request was before the County Commissioners in December and was continued to a date uncertain with a vote of 3:1. This is the new hearing date with some revisions made since the original request.
Item 2 & 3 Rivertown PUD and DRI modifications
This request in the RiverTown development is to revise school mitigation requirements, address the abandonment of the Eagle nest, add a date certain for a library site and fire statin site, clarify the residential development rights, include age restricted units, and reduce the proposed roundabout locations on SR 13. This was approved 6-0 in the PZA review. The applicant has provided that the School District had approved the School Mitigation agreement. There was no public comment at the PZA.
It should be noted, the Eagle’s nest had been abandoned after a lightning strike burned the tree hosting the nest.
Item 6 – Land Acquisition and Management Program (LAMP) submission of 5 properties for consideration for acquisition and conservation.
There are 6 properties under review with the LAMP program recommending the top 5. Location of the Top 5 properties are:
- County Road 13 N. Picolata Area – 457.5 acres with a potential use of passive recreation and conservation, wetland mitigation credits, and historic interpretation.
- County Road 13 McCollough Creek – 17.6 acres adjacent to the SJC McCullough Creek Conservation Area (MCCA) with a potential use to connect to the MCCA and add a small boat launch.
- Anastasia Lakes (Mid-Island) – 49.34 acres of salt marsh with a potential use of preservation for salt marsh credits.
- County Road 13 S. Riverdale Area – 30 acres with access on Atlantic Road and a potential use as preservation for wetland mitigation or park uses.
- 600 State Road 13 N (Fruit Cove) – 7.7 acres of a former landscape nursery with existing trees and a small pond. Potential use is a passive park. This had been previously recommended in 2022.
More information about the proposed properties can be found here: LAMP Proposal
Item 7 – Ordinance Consideration
Ordinance Establishing Procedures for Code Enforcement Lien Release or Reduction will be presented for a first reading with no action required from the Commissioners on this date.
When citations or other enforcement efforts are unsuccessful in achieving compliance, violations of St. Johns County (“County”) codes and ordinances may be scheduled for hearing before an enforcement board or special magistrate, which may order the assessment of fines, penalties, and/or costs against the violator. Such orders may be recorded in the public records and constitute a lien against the property, which are an asset of the County. The County occasionally receives requests from property owners or other interested parties to reduce or forgive such code enforcement liens. The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners (“Board”) authorized the Office of the County Attorney to draft a proposed ordinance to establish procedures for the consideration of such requests. The attached proposed ordinance establishes application requirements, eligibility criteria, and process for review of the application and recommendation by the applicable code enforcement body, which is then considered by the Board for final disposition.
Item 8 Countywide Strategic Plan
Item 8 is a request from the County Administrator to initiate and complete a countywide strategic plan.
Item 9, discussion of the Professional services agreement for Hunter Conrad
This is an item that has generated much comment at past BOCC meetings and it is expected to have lively public comment on Tuesday. The employment contract is for 3 years, beginning March 7, and includes a salary of $248,000 and an annual increase of 5% each October. Also in the contract is a transportation allowance of 700 dollars/month.
Full details can be found at this link:
Beth Tate 