Just when you think it’s going to be a short, routine Board meeting, surprises happen!
Tuesday began with recognition of Graduation of the third St. Johns County 101 Citizens Academy Graduation. County Administrator Andrews shared there are 150 people on the wait list for the program; and 29 in the current graduating class.
Check out the County Announcement about the class, with a link to the program information, at this site: Citizens Academy Graduation
Regular Agenda Items
Agenda Item 1 – Sebastian Oaks
“Request to amend the conditions of REZ 2023-16 (Ordinance 2024-09) to eliminate the requirement to construct a roundabout at the southern intersection of Old Lewis Speedway and Lewis Speedway and replace it with a condition that the developer shall adhere to St. Johns County’s standard requirement for proportionate fair share transportation mitigation, as outlined within Part 11.09.00 of the Land Development Code. The Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) heard this request at their regularly scheduled public hearing on November 6, 2025. The Agency made a motion to recommend approval, which failed with a vote of 3-3. Support of the approval motion was made by members Spiegel, Matovina, and Perkins. Dissenting votes were made by members Olson, Hilsenbeck, and Labanowski. Member Green was absent. Discussion from the Agency members and the public was centered on the history of the project and the proposed roundabout that was included with the approval of REZ 2023-16 on 3/5/2024.”
This project was approved in March of 2024. One of the key elements in the approval was to include a roundabout for traffic calming on Lewis Speedway. The applicant is now requesting to eliminate the roundabout and pay the proportionate fair share transportation mitigation fee.
During discussion at the Board there were many questions raised about the location of the roundabout and if it would be appropriate to remove the roundabout and change back to paying the mitigation fees. There was a bit of confusion as some public comments were urging to not approve the project. This was not about the project – it is approved. It is only about the change on the roundabout. A motion was made to defer the discussion to the December 17 meeting to allow time to gather answers to the questions. The motion was approved 4:1 (Joseph.)
Details about the request are here: Agenda Item 1
Watch the presentation here: Video of Agenda Item 1
Agenda Item 2 – Second Reading – Amendment to Impact Fee Ordinance
This is second and final reading of the Impact Fee Ordinance. Details are at this link: Impact Fee Ordinance Change
This was approved 5:0.
Agenda item 3 – Second Reading of Ordinance amending the St. Johns County Park Ordinance, adding definitions; adding prohibition of smoking and vaping in St. Johns County beaches and parks; amending to include cigarette butts and vaping paraphernalia as defined litter.
Key Slides from the presentation:
Commissioner Whitehurst clarified with Attorney Lex Taylor that the State of Florida has a carveout for cigars so this ordinance will NOT apply to smoking cigars on the beach.
Motion to approve passed unanimously.
The remainder of the agenda items were quick discussions – you can watch the full meeting here: Dec 2 SJC Board of County Commssioners Mtg
During Commissioner’s Reports, discussions took an interesting turn.
Commissioner Murphy began with reading a prepared response to the accusations levied against him at the previous Commissioner’s Meeting. He ended his remarks with a motion to recall Commissioner Joseph as Board Chair and nominated himself for the position of Board Chair. Commissioner Whitehurst seconded the motion.
After Public Comment, Commissioner Joseph spoke in rebuttal to his comments and reiterated the concerns she raised in the previous meeting.
After more discussion at the Board, vote was cast 3:2 (Joseph, Taylor voting No) and Commissioner Murphy became the Board Chair for the coming year.
As usual, I do encourage you to watch the full discussion at this link rather than rely on soundbites and edited clips that may be out of context of the full discussion. Commissioner Murphy Comments and Discussion
After this surprising twist there was little else to be share by the Commissioners.
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Beth Tate 