There is no shortage of public meetings of importance to the county next week. Let’s take a look at the most critical.
Budget Meetings
Budget season for St. Johns County begins in earnest next week with scheduled presentations of departmental budgets.
County Administrator Joy Andrews released a newsletter last week sharing how to listen in to the Budget process. The Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Disclosure Series begins next week and everyone can watch and ask questions!
These meetings are meetings between the Operational Department leaders and the County Administrator, reviewing their “proposed levels of service and requested funding need to accomplish those service goals and operations.”
Between May 8 and May 13, 2025, each County department will be presenting their operational needs and priorities. If you’ve ever wondered how they come up with these numbers or where the money goes, this is great opportunity to watch the process!
Each session will be broadcast live and recorded so you can watch in real-time or later. They will also have available public viewing areas if you want to be “in the room”.
The meetings will be held at the St. Johns County Administration Building, 500 San Sebastian View in St. Augustine. There will be limited seating in the conference room for in-person attendance and additional space in the auditorium where they will broadcast the meetings live. Or you can watch from the comfort of home on GTV. Link here: St. Johns County GTV
If you have feedback or questions, you can email the team at budget2026@sjcfl.us
If you are interested in specific topics, here is the line-up:
May 8 – 1:00 – 5:00 PM
- Health & Human Services
- Office of Performance & Transparency
- Purchasing and Contract Management
- Economic Development
- Public Works and Solid Waste
May 9 – 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
- Building Services and Code Enforcement
- Growth Management
- Medical Examiner
- Utility Services
May 9 – 2 – 4:30 PM
- Health Department
- Administration/Board of County Commissioners/Office of Management & Budget
- Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
- Office of Public Affairs
May 12 – 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
- Library Services
- Parks & Recreation
- County Attorney
- Management Information Systems
May 12 – 2 – 4:00 PM
- Community Partners
May 13 – 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
- Public Safety
- Human Resources and Risk Management
- Agricultural Extension Services
- Veterans Services
May 13 – 2 – 5:00 PM
- Facilities Management
- Land Management
- Emergency Management/Coastal Management/Disaster Recovery
- Tourism and Development
Learn more about the process here: 2026 Budget
Besides the Budget series beginning next week, there is the regularly scheduled BOCC meeting. There are some interesting topics on the agenda and I’ve already seen some mis-representation on social media. Before you plan to show up about a specific topic, learn more about what will be presented.
Let’s walk through the Agenda.
Regular Agenda Items
Agenda Item 1 – Tidal 210 – Request to rezone approximately 65 acres of land from Commercial Highway and Tourist to Planned Unit Development for the development of a maximum of 297 townhome units. This was heard by the PZA and failed with a 3:3 vote (Labanowski, Hilsenbeck, Speigel voting no.
Background materials can be found here: Tidal 210 PUD
Agenda Item 2 – Comprehensive Plan Update: Population Projections – the vendor supporting the process for the Comprehensive Plan was instructed to use Medium Population projections for the County as they prepare the Comprehensive Plan. This is their assessment.
Materials are here: Comp Plan Update
Agenda Item 3 – Amendment to the Irrigation Ordinance regulating the consumptive use of water for landscape irrigation. Proposed change will bring St. Johns County Utilities in conformity with best practices suggested by the St. Johns River Water Management District’s goals for water conservation.
The amended section is here (change in red):
Section 5. Exceptions to Landscape Irrigation Schedule. Landscape irrigation shall be subject to the following irrigation schedule exceptions:
A. Irrigation using a micro-spray, micro-jet, drip or bubbler irrigation system is allowed anytime.
B. Irrigation of new landscape is allowed at any time of day on any day for 30 days immediately following planting/installation and every other day for the next 30 days for a total of one 60- day period, provided that the irrigation is limited to the minimum amount necessary for such landscape establishment.
C. Watering in of chemicals, including insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers, fungicides, and herbicides, when required by law, the manufacturer, or best management practices, is allowed at any time of day on any day within 24 hours of application. Watering in of chemicals shall not exceed ¼ inch of water per application except as otherwise required by law, the manufacturer, or best management practices.
D. Irrigation systems may be operated at any time of day on any day for necessary maintenance and repair purposes not to exceed 20 minutes per hour per zone.
E. Irrigation using a hand-held hose equipped with an automatic shut-off nozzle is allowed at any time of day on any day.
F. Discharge of water from a water-to-air air-conditioning unit or other water-dependent cooling system is not limited by this Ordinance.
G. The use of water from a reclaimed water system is allowed anytime unless restricted by a utility provider for operational needs as permitted by law. For the purpose of this paragraph, a reclaimed water system includes systems in which the primary source is reclaimed water, which may or may not be supplemented from another source during peak demand periods.
Agenda Item 4 – Amending the SJC Utilities Ordinance – Second Reading
“During a recent Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) inspection of the Utilities Pretreatment Program, it was discovered that the current Utility Ordinance did not give delegation authorization from the Utility Director to the Pretreatment Coordinator. It was also noted that the Ordinance did not define a timeline for reviewing data and issuing or denying Pretreatment permits. These minor amendments (pages 42 and 52) to the Utility Ordinance will address the changes FDEP requested during the Pretreatment inspection. First Reading was held April 1, 2025.”
Agenda Item 5 – Rezoning SR 207/Helen Road Commercial – Request to rezone approximately .97 acres of land at 180 State Road 207 from Residential, Manufactured/Mobile Home to Commercial Intensive. The applicant intends to develop the overall site to include office, self-storage and flex warehousing.
Materials are here: Agenda Item 5
Agenda Item 6 – 1235 S. Winterhawk Drive – Request for a Non-Zoning variance to allow for an access easement within a platted subdivision
Agenda Item 7 – FLUEDRA Mediation update: Robinson Improvement Company – This is an item that needs to be understood in it’s entirety. I’ve seen encouragement to show up on Tuesday to tell the BOCC to deny this request. That is not one of the options for Tuesday. Read on.
“On November 5, 2024, the Board denied Robinson Improvement Company’s request to rezone 2,763 acres to PUD (PUD2024-09). The property is located north of County Road 214, south of County Road 208, and between I-95 and County Road 13A. Robinson Improvement filed a request for relief from the denial under the Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act (“FLUEDRA”). FLUEDRA provides a means to potentially resolve disputes pre-suit through a special magistrate mediation and hearing process. The special magistrate mediation occurred on March 28, 2025. During the mediation, Robinson Improvement presented a revised plan providing more site detail, including a neighborhood commercial component. The parties agreed that, contingent on Board approval, Robinson Improvement could proceed to a public rezoning hearing on the revised plan. If the Board does not approve scheduling the new rezoning hearing, the parties will proceed to a public hearing before the special magistrate regarding the FLUEDRA request.”
Relief is being sought by the developer under FLUEDRA, aimed at resolving the dispute between the developer and the county without litigation.
You can read the FLUEDRA statute here: FLUEDRA Statute
There are two options for the Commission on Tuesday:
OPTION 1: Motion to rehear PUD2024-09 and authorize the scheduling of a public rezoning hearing complying with public notice and advertising requirements.
OPTION 2: Take no action and allow the matter to proceed to a public hearing before the special magistrate.
Note that there is no option to deny the development at this meeting. Either it gets scheduled for another rezoning hearing or no action is taken, allowing this challenge to go before the special magistrate.
This article in the Jacksonville Daily Record lays out some of the details: Agrihood – Second Chance
The full agenda for Tuesday can be found here: May 6 BOCC Agenda
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Beth Tate 