The July 22 Board of Commissioners meeting was long and covered a number of critical topics. There have a been a number of “sound bites” circulating on Social Media. My goal here is to give you the full context around some of those sound bites and give you the materials for you to read, watch, and come to your own conclusions.
Let’s start with an important Consent Agenda item that has been of concern, the Agreement with FCC Environmental Services Florida, LLC and the upcoming waste collection fee increase.
During Public Comment on changes to the Consent Agenda, item 35 from the Consent Agenda was raised as a concern. The item is the “Agreement with FCC Environmental Services Florida, LLC”
Link to the background document is here: FCC Agreement Item
Background:
“In August 2024, certain disputes arose between the County and FCC regarding FCC’s performance under its Hauling Agreement with the County. As such, the County withheld payment of the August 2024 solid waste invoice. Through contract required mediation, the County and FCC have resolved its dispute pursuant to the terms in the Agreement. FCC agrees to reimburse the County for actual costs it incurred in providing services under the Hauling Agreement during August 2024, and an agreed upon settlement amount. Since the payment for August 2024 services was withheld and not included in the FY 2026 Solid Waste budget, a transfer from reserves is necessary to pay the balance of the August 2024 invoice.”
Payments in the settlement were:
FCC to reimburse the County for actual costs it incurred during August 2024, and an agreed settlement amount for a total amount of One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,500,000.00).
In turn, the County paid to FCC the payment for August, 2024 services of $900,750.80.
The settlement was agreed to through mediation.
Currently FCC is meeting their contractual obligations to the county for waste collection.
Commissioner Murphy asked Public Works Director Greg Caldwell what the cost to the county would be if we went back out to bid at this time.
If the County went with the 2nd lowest bid from 2 years ago, the price to the county would be almost double what is being paid now. That equate to about $500-$600 per resident.
Based on the prices from 2 years ago, it would be $1 Million per month higher than what we are paying now. ($12 Million dollar increase to our budget.)
The August 5 BOCC Meeting includes a Public Hearing on the Proposed Increases to Solid Waste Special Assessments. Details here: August 5 BOCC Item – Solid Waste Increase
To put in context the increase in Waste Collection, they are proposing an increase from the current $256 to $334 a year for 2026. That’s a $6.50 a month increase.
I would encourage you to watch the full discussion on the agreement at this link and not rely on the sound bites from the media. FCC Discussion
Regular Agenda Items
Agenda Item 1, the budget discussion, was moved to the end of the day to accommodate allowing staff to attend the funeral services for former Fire Chief Robert Hall.
Agenda Item 2 – Andre Land Holdings Workforce Housing
“Request to rezone approximately 11.37 acres of land from Open Rural (OR) to Workforce Housing (WH), located at 3165 County Road 208, Unit F. The Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) heard this request at their regularly scheduled public hearing on June 5, 2025. The Agency recommended denial with a vote of 6-0, supported by members Perkins, Matovina, Hilsenbeck, Spiegel, Green, and Labanowski. Members discussed several issues, including specimen trees, pricing, number of units, housing types, area compatibility, and proposed density. Public comments addressed existing rural uses in the area such as livestock management, poultry, equine activities, fishing ponds, and recreational shooting. Discussions included potential impacts on area school overcrowding, as well as opinions that townhomes may not be suitable for the area, noting that there are currently too many unsold townhome units in the County. More information is provided in the Staff Report.“
Video of the presentation and vote is here: Agenda Item 2
Commissioner Arnold made a motion to deny the project and it was approved unanimously. (that means the project was denied.)
Agenda Item 4 – Powers Center
This was a request to rezone approximately 1.88 acres of land from Industrial Warehousing (IW) to Planned Unit Development (PUD) to allow for a maximum 36,000 square feet of non-residential uses, specifically located at 9990 US-1 North.
PZA did not recommend approval (2-4 vote).
The area is in between two other commercial developments already in place.
BOCC approved the request 4-1 (Joseph voting no)
Agenda Items 5 & 6
These were both updates to the Land Development Code.
Item 5 was a Second Reading, “Updates to Land Development Code (LDC) Articles II, III, V, VI, IX, and XII, and the Table of Contents, to maintain consistency with Florida Statutes and to better organize existing parts of the code. The Planning and Zoning Agency voted on May 15, 2025 to recommend approval of this item 5-0. The Board of County Commissioners heard this item for first reading on June 17, 2025.The Board had no questions and no members of the public spoke during public comment.”
Link to details on Item 5 is here: Agenda Item 5
Item 6 was a First Reading, “This amendment amends Land Development Code Section 5.01.00 Subdivisions to maintain consistency with changes to State Statute that went into effect on July 1, 2025 with the enactment of Senate Bill 784. The bill requires administrative approval of a plat or replat submitted pursuant to F.S. 177.091 according to certain processing criteria. The bill also requires passage of an ordinance designating an administrative authority to manage plat and replat submittals and render approval decisions. The amendment designates the Director of Growth Management Department as the administrative authority. This change to Florida law went into effect on July 1, 2025. The Board may choose to waive the second hearing required by St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners Rules and Policies Rule 3.103 (Introduction of Legislation) through implementation of Rule 1.103 (Suspension of Standing Rules). Such Board action requires a motion and vote of a majority plus one of the Commissioners present.”
Link to details on Item 6 is here: Agenda Item 6
Agenda Item 7 – Proposed Amendments to the Land Development Code – Tree Ordinance
This was the first hearing of the long-awaited update to the Tree Ordinance. The Second Reading is scheduled for the August 5 Meeting.
“First Hearing by the BCC on proposed Land Development Code, considering proposed “red-line” changes with regards to updates to the method of measuring and designating Specimen trees (LDC Article IV), increasing the per-inch Tree Deficiency Charge from $25.00 to $100.00 (LDC Article IV) and increase of the minimum preservation of upland natural vegetation required for certain Planned Urban Developments from 5% preserved to 10% preserved (LDC Article V). Also, a change to the definition of Specimen Tree is proposed in Article XII for consistency with the relevant change in Article IV.”
The link to the discussion is here: Agenda Item 7 – Tree Ordinance
The background materials, including the red line changes is here: Agenda Item 7 – Red Line Tree Ordinance
Key Slides
Agenda Item 8 – 2050 Comprehensive Plan – Transmittal Hearing
Watch here: Agenda Item 8 – Comp Plan Transmittal Hearing
This was a very long item and some of the most important points were discussed in the Commissioner’s discussion, after the Public Comment. You can watch the full video at the link above or just go straight to the Commissioner’s discussion at the link below.
To watch just the Commissioner’s Discussion on the topic, go to this link: Video of Commissioner’s Discussion
There has been some criticism of including a revision of Res-D density to increase from 13 – 16 units per acre. It’s important to view this in it’s full context. There was a proposal that rather than expand the Development Boundaries in order to provide more Workforce Housing in the County, the Res-D density could be increased from 13 to 20 units per acre. After discussion, the compromis was to increase from 13 to 16 units per acre.
Key Slides from the presentation:
Agenda Item 1 – Fiscal Year 2026 Recommended Budget & Proposed Millage Rates
Watch the full presentation here: Budget Presentation
Watch discussion of the Recommended Budget here: Budget Discussion
You can review the full Budget Details at this link: St Johns County 2026 Budget Recommendations
Key Slides are here – but do watch the entire presentation to get the full context
The first set of slides is from the County Administrator’s Recap of key accomplishments related to the County’s budget for the past year.
The following slides speak to the highlights in the 2026 budget recommendations.
These slides walk through the budget process and the recommended 2026 budget.
The next set of slides starts to tie together the Budget and impact on Property Taxes.
And now we get into the Truth in Millage or TRIM and how it impacts our Property Tax Bills.
With much discussion about whether we need a rollback, here are the sides explaining the impacts of a rollback.
This slide was a requested comparison of St Johns County millage rates compared to surrounding counties.
The Budget passed 3:2 (Joseph, Taylor)
The First Public Hearing of the Budget is scheduled for September 3 at 5:01 PM.
What’s Ahead on October 5?
Items of interest at the August 5 BOCC Meeting include
- E-Bike Safety Resolution
- St. Johns County’s Annual Financial Report
- The Public Hearing on Proposed Increases to Solid Waste Special Assessments
- 2nd Reading of the Tree Ordinance
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Beth Tate 
Thank you for the comprehensive recap of the BCC July 22 Meeting. You did a great job giving all the direct links to the factual information. Correction needed: Next BCC meeting is on AUGUST 5th not OCTOBER 5th. “What’s Ahead on October 5? Items of interest at the October 5 BOCC Meeting include”…
Thank you! Fixed it! 🙂