Summary of Key Agenda Items for the Board of County Commissioners and Planning and Zoning Agency meetings this week
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
The Board of County Commissioners Meeting is Tuesday, April 4, 9:00 in the County Auditorium at 500 San Sebastian Way.
Of particular interest during the BOCC meeting this week is Item 4 on the Agenda.
This will be the First Reading of Ordinance Relating to Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety within Public Road and Rights-of-Way
This is timely as in the past week I’ve seen complaints on social media about people standing in the medians asking for donations for various organizations or for themselves.
At a previous meeting, Commissioner Whitehurst had asked Staff to review neighboring Clay County’s ordinance that had been recently passed to see if there was something we could do in St. Johns County to reduce these potential safety issues.
Background information on this item is as follows:
“A recent study identified the State of Florida as the second-highest-ranked state in the country in pedestrian deaths, in both the total and as an average per person. Traffic crash data shows that St. Johns County has experienced a number of vehicle/pedestrian crashes, including crashes causing death. The risk of such incidents is increased by the unexpected presence of pedestrians near a motor vehicle or within the travel lanes, including within medians or when engaged in person-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-person interactions. The inherent danger of such situations is heightened for certain higher traffic volume and/or speed roadways, such as interstate/intrastate highways and arterials and collector roads, and their approaches. The State of Florida and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have both identified enhanced legislation, regulation, and enforcement as elements of a successful strategy for enhancing pedestrian safety. The attached proposed ordinance would prohibit dangerous use of certain designated public rights-of-way in a way that interferes with the safe and efficient movement of people and property. Prohibited uses include, specifically, physical interactions while a vehicle is in the travel lanes and stopping or remaining in a median longer than needed to safely cross, subject to certain exceptions. The ordinance would be enforced by the Sheriff after conducting a public education campaign for the first 30 days and issuing warnings, after which first violations would result in a civil citation and fine, and second and subsequent violations prosecuted in the same manner as misdemeanors.”
Detailed information on the proposed ordinance and data supporting the need for such an ordinance can be found at this link:
Planning and Zoning Agency
The Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 6, at 1:30 in the County Auditorium.
The first item on the agenda is one of great interest to residents of District 1. This is the Transmittal hearing with the PZA for The Landings at St. Johns. This development would be located south of Greenbriar Road and west of Longleaf Pine Parkway and is slated to be Res-B zoning (2 dwelling units per acre.)
Background Information:
“COMPAMD 2022-06 The Landings at St. Johns (Transmittal), request 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.”
The full 512 page presentation can be found at this link:
Notes on the February 9 Community meeting, with the lists of attendees and proximate locations of the attendees begins on page 467.
Item 6 on the Agenda is the Adoption Hearing for the updates to the Workforce Housing Ordinance proposed by the Northeast Florida Builder’s Association (NEFBA) late last year.
Link to the Presentation on the Workforce Housing ordinance can be found here:
Transparency – in my role as Chair of the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Committee, I have presented the Chamber’s concerns with 2 points in the proposed ordinance change. Overall, the Chamber had agreed with 80% of the proposed changes.
What remains to be seen is how the newly signed “Live Local” bill designed to address the state-wide Affordable Housing issues will impact the St. Johns County Workforce Housing ordinance.
I’ll post updates on these meetings later in the week.
Beth Tate 