The August 3 Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) meeting had one lengthy discussion and some interesting conversation about the upcoming August 17 PZA meeting.
The first item on the Agenda was the annual election of the Chair and Vice-Chair. Teresa Bishop, of the Growth Management Department made a request to delay the election of the Chair and Vice-Chair to a future meeting. The rationale for the request was because of a highly controversial item to be heard at the August 17 Planning and Zoning Agency Meeting. After much discussion it was agreed to delay the election of a new Chair and Vice-Chair until after the upcoming review of the Ponte Vedra PUD Modification.
Agenda Item 2, a non-zoning variance for signage in The Shoppes of Tocoi Creek was approved with little debate.
Agenda Item 4 for the Katepally Community Commercial PUD to add a connectivity point and an additional vehicular access point was also approved with little discussion.
The big item of the day was the combined presentation on items 5 – 8, The Landings at Greenbriar and The Landings at St. Johns (Active Adult.)
You can watch the full presentation at this link: August 3 PZA Meeting
I’ve shared screen shots from the presentation throughout the narrative below.
Dr. Hilsenback commented on their package having 946 pages to review. This is an indication of the size and complexity of the proposal.
The 4 items, presented in one presentation were:
- Agenda Item 5 (370 pages) is “Request for a Small-Scale Comprehensive Plan Amendment to change the Future Land Use designation of approximately 31.8 acres of land, located south of Greenbriar Road, approximately one (1) mile west of Longleaf Pine Parkway, from Rural/Silviculture (R/S) to Residential-B (Res-B) with site specific text amendment stating that in locations where the subject property is contiguous to The Landings at St. Johns site, no Development Edges will be required.”
- Agenda item 6 (87 pages) is “Request to rezone approximately 382 acres of land from Open Rural (OR) to Planned Unit Development (PUD) to allow for a maximum 588 single family residential dwelling units. This request is a companion application to CPA (SS) 2022-01”
- Agenda item 7 (340 pages) is “Adoption hearing for a Large-Scale Comprehensive Plan Amendment to change the Future Land Use Map designation of approximately 581 acres of land, located south of Greenbriar Road and west of Longleaf Pine Parkway, from Rural/Silviculture (R/S) to Residential-B (Res-B) with a site specific text amendment stating that in locations where the subject property is contiguous to The Landings at Greenbriar site, no Development Edges will be required.”
- Agenda item 8 (149 pages) is “Request to rezone approximately 581 acres of land from Open Rural (OR) and Residential, Single Family (RS-2) to Planned Unit Development (PUD) to allow for a maximum 761 age-restricted single family homes. This request is a companion application to COMPAMD 2022-06 The Landings at St. Johns.”
Links to each agenda item are here:
Agenda Item 5 – The Landings at Greenbriar
Agenda Item 6 – The Landings at Greenbriar PUD
Agenda Item 7 – The Landings at St. Johns Agenda
Item 8 – The Landings at St. Johns PUD
The Landings at Greenbriar is planned to have 588 single family residential units while the Landings at St. Johns is planned for 761 Age Restricted (55+) single family units.
To mitigate impacts to roads, the project includes a Proportionate Fair Share agreement that would:
- Widen a portion of Greenbriar Road to 4-lanes from Greenbriar Road/Longleaf Pine Parkway intersection west approximately .90 mile at an estimated cost of $8,162,869.
- Widen an additional .5-mile segment of Greenbriar Road extending to approximately 930 feet west of Brambly Vine Drive/Project Entrance intersection for a total of 1.48 miles.
- Include improvements to the intersection of Greenbriar Road and Longleaf Pine Pkwy.
The representative for the developer shared information about the status of road improvements.
Active and Funded Road Improvement Projects:
- Longleaf Pine Parkway four-lane
- CR 210 four-lane from Cimarrone to 210-West
- Longleaf Pine improved with the Greenbriar Helow Mixed Use Development
A timeline was shared to demonstrate that the first homes will not be closing for new homeowners until 2026 and that much of the road improvement construction will be done before the new traffic is generated.
Also shared was two proposed road improvements that will be of benefit for school traffic and included in the package was a letter of support from Superintendent Forson about the benefit of these improvements;
The School District had previously determined there is no available capacity in the Concurrency Service Area impacted by this development. In the months since that determination the developer had been working with the School District and there is now an agreed Proportionate Fair Share Agreement with the School District.
The Developer shared information about the impacts on schools with these slides:
Public Comment
During Public Comment there were concerns raised that this is NOT compatible with surrounding neighborhoods. This was based on lot sizes and density in existing developments compared to the proposed development. There was frustration expressed with the number of expert witnesses in the room for the developer. A comment was made that the added turn lane for the schools was not helpful and only provided to win “brownie points.”
Concerns were raised about the overcrowding in the schools and the number of temporary classrooms already in place.
During rebuttal from the developer they pointed out the requirement for the expert witnesses for a quasi-judicial application such as this and that is why they have the experts who helped prepare the reports in the room to answer any potential questions.
They addressed concerns about compatibility by sharing the following slide and chart:
Discussion before the vote
After this discussion Dr. Hilsenbeck indicated he had more concerns about compatibility. He also asked about how many approved and platted but unbuilt lots are in the county today.
Ms. Bishop provided these numbers:
- 142,555 approved lots
- 83,888 are built
- 58,267 unbuilt, county wide
Dr. Hilsenbeck went on to share that he felt the traffic would be “crushing” and that this development is premature until the roads and schools can catch up.
Mr. Matovina pointed out that there were other sources of funding for road improvements, not just those indicated for this development. He also shared his view that as road improvements come online, people will change their travel habits and that will alter the traffic patterns.
All four applications were approved 5-1 with Dr. Hilsenbeck being the Nay vote.
The next step is review with the County Commissioners on Sept. 5.
Staff Reports and Final Discussion
During staff reports, Ms. Bishop shared that the School Board is working on finding a replacement for their vacant PZA position.
There was discussion about the upcoming PZA meeting on August 17 where the controversial Ponte Vedra Resorts PUD will be reviewed.
-The hearing is set for a time certain at 3:00 and it is anticipated the meeting may go very long based on the recent community meeting with over 400 people in attendance.
-They are setting a time certain for the Chairman to be allowed to continue the meeting if it is still going at 8:00 PM.
-They could extend the meeting to 10:00 PM.
-If the meeting goes past 6:00, they will schedule a 30 minute dinner break.
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Beth Tate 