St. Johns County – Page 14

August 3, St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency Meeting

Posted on July 31, 2023July 31, 2023 by Beth Tate

Big Agenda Items include The Landings at St. Johns and The Landings at Greenbriar

Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) meetings are held the 1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of the month at 1:30 PM in the Auditorium at 500 San Sebastian View.

The scheduled PZA meeting has 8 items noted with the last 3 being of particular interest to the Northwest Sector of the County.

Link to the full agenda is here: PZA Agenda

Items of interest are below:

Agenda Item 1 is the annual election of the Chair and Vice-Chair. Will there be a change this year?

Agenda Item 2 is a non-zoning variance for signage in The Shoppes of Tocoi Creek. The monument sign should not be larger than 28 square feet. The applicant is requesting a variance for a 60.7 square foot sign to accommodate the large number of tenants in this shopping center (over 20.)

Details are at this link: Shoppes at Tocoi Creek Signage

Agenda Item 4 is for the Katepally Community Commercial PUD to add a connectivity point and an additional vechicular access point. This will require .58 acres of wetlands to be filled in. The intent of this change is to reduce traffic congestion related to the property.

Details are here: Katepally Community Commercial PUD

Agenda Items 5 – 8 are related to The Landings at Greenbriar and The Landings at St. Johns (Active Adult.)

Agenda Item 5 (370 pages) is The Landings at Greenbriar – “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 The Landings at Greenbriar – “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 The Landings at Saint Johns – “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 The Landings at Saint Johns – “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 included below.

High level description of the project

These two communities have generated a lot of concern and interest in the Northwest sector. This is the Adoption Hearing for this development as it was approved for Transmittal in May of this year.

Residents Concerns

At the hearings for the transmittal, there were many residents who spoke both for and against the project. There were complaints raised by some of the residents opposed to the project that residents speaking in favor had some affiliation to the project, either directly or indirectly. Regardless of their affiliation, they are still residents of the county and are therefore able to share their opinions on the project.

The opposition to the project is largely around increased traffic on the roads, lack of capacity in the schools today, and the further eroding of Rural Silviculture in St. Johns County and thus the continued removal of trees and impact to wildlife.

What’s included

These items will probably be presented in one presentation that we can anticipate will be lengthy. The complete project is an overall “master planned and interconnected” residential community that will be made up of The Landings at Greenbriar and The Landings at St. Johns.

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 School District has determined there is no available capacity in the Concurrency Service Area impacted by this development. The applicant has stated they are aware they will need to begin the proportionate fair share mitigation process or wait until there is available capacity.

In the staff review they noted that this region of the county has had “notable impacts” to school capacity and has deficient roadway segments.

The applicant has proposed traffic mitigation that they believe will provide a public benefit. This includes:

• Widen a one (1) mile segment of Greenbriar Road from two (2) lanes to four (4) lanes from just east of its intersection with Longleaf Pine Parkway to the west, including the widening of the Greenbriar Road/Longleaf Pine Parkway intersection to accommodate the four-lane reconfiguration of Greenbriar Road.

• Widen an additional one-half mile section of Greenbriar Road from the terminus of the Landings at Greenbriar project improvements (outlined above) just west of the project entrance.

• Turn lane improvements to Greenbriar Road at the entrances to Switzerland Point Middle School and Hickory Creek Elementary School, which the applicant attests will relieve traffic congestion on Greenbriar Road when school is starting and ending.

• Turn lane improvements to Longleaf Pine Parkway at the entrance to Bartram Trail High School, which the applicant attests will relieve traffic congestion on Longleaf Pine Parkway when school is starting.

Additionally, they note these benefits:

• Providing a provision of funds for the construction of roadway improvements to Greenbriar Road, Longleaf Pine Parkway, or other regional roads that are currently in need of widening.

• Provision of much-needed housing in an area that is surrounded by existing residential communities, schools, parks and other public facilities that are already available to serve project residents.

• The age restricted community will have no impact on school capacity and yet contribute ad valorem tax revenue to the St. Johns County School District.

There is a lot to digest and a lot of background reading necessary to understand the full proposals. For more of the details, check the links below.

Links to each submission are here:

Agenda Item 5 – The Landings at Greenbriar Plan Amendment

Agenda Item 6 – The Landings at Greenbriar PUD

Agenda Item 7 – The Landings at St. Johns Plan Amendment

Agenda Item 8 – The Landings at St. Johns PUD

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What’s on the August 1, 2023 St. Johns County Board of County Commissioner’s Agenda

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Beth Tate

The August 1 agenda is a little lighter than recent agendas, perhaps a welcome break for all!

There is only one Proclamation on the agenda and that is one recognizing 25 years of service for the St. Johns Housing Partnership.

Consent Agenda Items of Interest

There are 28 items on the Consent Agenda. Here are a few that may be of interest:

Consent Agenda Item 3

IFT 2023-11 Park Impact Fee Credit Transfer – Marshall Creek PUD (Palencia) to Ravenswood Village. Impact Fee Credit Transfer

Recently Impact Fee Credit Transfers have been generating public comment on the Consent Agenda. This Credit Transfer is to transfer $166,870.00 of the remaining park impact fee credit from Marshall Creek PUD (Palencia) to the Ravenswood Village Workforce Housing Development that is south of SR 16 and west of Masters Drive. This transfer is from District 2 to District 3. Because the credit will be transferred outside of the original Impact Fee Zone, into an adjoining Impact Fee Zone, this is a waiver request.

Consent Agenda Item 4

CONSCA 2023-03 Secession School Concurrency Proportionate Share Mitigation Agreement. Concurrency Agreement

School Concurrency Mitigation is a hot topic because of the perpetual overcrowding in the schools. This Concurrency Proportionate Share Mitigation Agreement was approved by the School Board at the June 13, 2023 Board Meeting and now must be approved by the Board of County Commissioners.

This mitigation is specific to the Secession Subdivision that was approved by the Board of County Commissioners on August 22, 2006. There were 2 parcels approved, Watson Village and Phase II of Watson Woods. The proportionate share mitigation is $126,678.00, or $1,056.0 per unit (120 units.)

Consent Agenda Item 15

“A Resolution approving the terms and authorizing the County Administrator, or designee, to execute a Purchase and Sale Agreement for acquisition of approximately 46 acres of land located off A1A South for conservation and accepting donation of the contiguous 2.8 acres.” Lamp Purchase

On March 7, 2023, the Board approved the LAMP Ranking List and directed staff to initiate purchase negoations for the properties on the list. This is one of those parcels and will result in the county acquiring approximately 48.8 acres of land for conservation.

Consent Agenda Item 18

Engage SJSO Public Service Assistants for traffic control at the Intersection of CR 210 and Cumberland Park Drive. Traffic Control Agreement

The project to widen CR 210 between CE Wilson road and the 6 lane portion of CR 210 in Twin Creeks will include a signalized intersection at Cumberland Park Drive/Badger Park Drive and CR 210. The project has not yet gone to bid and construction will last between 9 and 12 months once begun. This item is an agreement for the Sheriff’s Office to provide Public Service Assistants for temporary traffic control at this intersection until this intersection is completed. It is anticipated that the Developer will reimburse the County for their portion of the required responsibility including costs for this temporary traffic control.

Consent Agenda Item 19

Interlocal Agreement Between City of Jacksonville and St. Johns County Regarding Maintenance of Race Track Road. Interlocal Agreement – Race Track Road

This is an agreement between the City of Jacksonville and St. Johns County relative to the funding and construction of widening a portion of Race Track Road from 2 lanes to 4 lanes from approximately Bartram Park Blvd. to the intersection of East Payton Parkway and Race Track Road. If you are a resident of the northwest sector, you know the 2 lane section referenced here!

This interlocal agreement allows for the City of Jacksonville and Eastland Development group to fund and construct this portion of Race Track Road and St. Johns County to operate, maintain and repair this section of road going forward. This will give St. Johns County maintenance of the entire 10 miles of Race Track Road from SR 13 to US 1. This 2 lane section of road is already maintained by the county and adding the additional lanes here will not impact funding.

Public Comment is Time Certain from 11:30 – 12:00

Regular Agenda items of interest

Agenda Item 1

Item 1 is another Waiver of Time Limits request. October 18, 2022, the Board denied a request for Mills Place with a 4/0 vote. The application is ready to resubmit however there is a one year waiting period. This request is to waive the 1 year requirement and allow the property owner to pursue building Workforce Housing on this parcel. Waiver for Development of Workforce Housing

Agenda Item 5

This is the First Reading of Proposed Amendments to the St. Johns County Ordinance 2009-43, the Prohibited Holiday Activity Ordinance for Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators. Updated Prohibited Holiday Activities

The proposed amendments include additional prohibitions on participation in holiday activities by sexual offenders and sexual predators and remove a requirement regarding signage that may be subject to constitutional challenge under the First Amendment.

Agenda Item 6

This is the Second Reading of the Floating Structures Ordinance. This created some discussion at the First Reading on June 20, as there was confusion about the definition of a Floating Structure. There has been much feedback since the original reading. Some of that has been incorporated into the current version of the Ordinance. Floating Structures Ordinance

Agenda Item 7

Presentation of the Fiscal Year 2024 Recommended Budget and Proposed Millage Rates. Budget Presentation

Budget Summaries can be found at this link: Budget Summaries

Background information on the Budget:

“The annual County budget process requires a number of steps, ranging from its preparation through adoption, per Florida Statutes (F.S. 129.03(3) and F.S. 200.065, Truth in Millage requirements). The Truth in Millage (TRIM) process informs taxpayers and the public about the legislative process by which local taxing authorities determine ad valorem (property) taxes. On July 18, 2023, the Board of County Commissioners received the FY 2024 Recommended Budget, balanced with expenditures and adequate reserves within each County fund equal to projected fund revenues. County Administration’s Recommended Budget represents a funding level that can reasonably assure the achievement of St. Johns County’s operational needs while minimizing the tax impact on its citizenry. An electronic version (in pdf format) of the workbook may be found on the County’s website at: http://www.sjcfl.us/OMB. Following the development and presentation of a Recommended Budget, the County is obligated to provide certain information concerning that budget to the Property Appraiser. This information includes 1.) The FY 2023 adopted millage rates; 2.) The FY 2024 proposed millage rates; 3.) The FY 2024 calculated rolled-back rates; and 4.) The date, time, and meeting place of the tentative budget hearing. This information is placed on Department of Revenue DR–420 forms provided to the Property Appraiser. Those forms provide the basis for the “TRIM” notice mailed by the Property Appraiser to property owners in St. Johns County. The BCC will need to approve proposed Millage rates (see the attached sheet) for the County’s TRIM mailing, and approve September 5, 2023, at 5:01 PM in the County Auditorium as the Date, Time, and Place of the first public hearing for the adoption of the FY 2024 Annual Budget. For practical purposes, once the proposed Millage rates are set, they can still be decreased but not increased.”

Agenda Item 8

The last Regular Agenda Item of the day is the Employment Agreement for the Interim County Administrator. Interim County Administrator Employment Agreement

Link to full Agenda: BOCC Full Agenda for August 1, 2023

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BOCC, St. Johns County

Update on the July 18, 2023 St. Johns County Board of County Commissioner’s Meeting

Posted on July 21, 2023 by Beth Tate

The July 18 County Commissioners Meeting was an incredibly long day!! With almost 8 hours of information to share, and many of them of interest to everyone, this will be a longer update than usual

Public Safety Update

Chief Bullard shared that new fire trucks were put into service, some of which are better able to serve some of our more rural parts of the county.

The Sheriff’s Department update was from Director Tara Wildes gave an update on the SJSO War on Drugs. Last year they seized 518 grams of Fentanyl, enough to kill every resident in the county. She shared their efforts to do drug rehabilitation therapy with inmates during incarceration in an effort to reduce drug use in the county.

The Clerk of the Court’s report was an update on Jury Service and selection. The county no longer uses voter rolls for jury selection but instead pull 500 random names from the rolls of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Consent Agenda Items

There was much discussion on the Consent Agenda as there were deletions and moves of items. Item 22 and 31 were asked to be pulled from Consent and moved to the Regular Agenda by Legal.

Commissioner Alaimo proposed pulling Consent Agenda Item 30 and moved it to the Regular Agenda.

These changes were made.

For the Regular Agenda, Commissioner Whitehurst asked to move Item 7, the budget up to number 2 in the presentation.

Legal noted 2 add on items for the Regular Agenda, a vacation of a Right of Way at Volusia and Brevard Sts. This was advertised to the public but inadvertently omitted from the agenda. A transfer of funds for the Tourism Development Council just came up at the Monday meeting so there was a request to add that to the agenda.

Regular Agenda Items

Agenda Item 1 was a presentation on recent First Responding Unit Exercises. Included in the update was a video of part of the exercises that may be of interest.

You can watch the presentation here: First Responding Unit Exercises

This was followed by the review of the Vacation of Right of Way at Volusia and Brevard Sts. There is grant money from the state and matching funds from the county that required the request to be heard on July 18 to keep the project moving forward. This is a project led by the West Augustine Historical Community Development Corporation. The project will provide a much needed affordable healthcare facility. Vacation of Right of Way

Next up on the Agenda was the very important Agenda Item 7, the 2024 County Budget. Interestingly, rather than go straight to the presentation by the Director of OMB, Jesse Dunn, there was a 25 minute presentation by Deputy County Administrator Joy Andrews.

You can watch the presentation here: Presentation by Joy Andrews

I do recommend watching the video to get the full flavor of what she shared. Highlights are noted here.

Ms. Andrews presented this as a “Budget Snapshot in time.”

She covered several areas:

BoCC Vision & Leadership
Public Safety & Wellness
Building. Infrastructure
Quality of Life
Economics & Tourism
Internal Capacity Building
Challenges and Opportunities

Vision & Leadership – Ms. Andrews highlighted the priorities set by the BOCC, Transportation Infrastructure, Economic Resiliency, Coastal Protection & Flood Mitigation and Resilient Future for Children. She reminded us of the Transportation Summit with the Legislative Delegation last year and a trip to Washington DC, which resulted in Funding for the county that was 5 times what was received in 2022.

The projects funded were:

Restoration of North Ponte Vedra Beach – $25 Million
County Road 2209 Phase 1 – $15 Million
St. Johns Safe Rail Project – $6 Million
State Road A1A Intersection Improvements – $6 Million
Summer Haven Conservation Land acquisition Program – $5 Million
Pine Island Road at US1 Intersection Safety enhancement – $2 Million

One of the highlights of the update was that Moody’s Upgraded the county’s credit rating from AA1 to AAA.

Public Safety – Highlighted in this section were updates that appear to be reaching back several months, including the COVID response and the Response to Hurricanes Ian & Nicole. Included here was a reference to leveraging over $1 Million in grant funding for new schools. (Considering the cost of a new school, this doesn’t appear to be a large amount.)

In the discussion on Fire Rescue, she shared benchmark numbers of Fire Rescue Staff of 1.3 per 1000 residents, St. Johns County is 50 personnel short of this benchmark thus they are requesting funding for 18 new positions in 2024.

Community Wellness & Revitalization – noted an added 255 multifamily housing units for residents at 60% AMI or less. She brought out the partnership to revitalize West Augustine and Hastings by combining county funds with grant funds for the Health and Wellness Center in West Augustine and the Hastings Community Center and Library.

Building Infrastructure – Noted were Wastewater Treatment updates at Anastasia Island and SR 16, and 35 miles of milling and resurfacing or roads in the county.

Quality of Life – updates on the re-opened County golf course and enhancements to Veterans park, Rivertown Park, and Treaty Park.

Development & Internal Services – highlighted the strong rebound of Tourism in St. Johns County since 2020 resulting in a 28% increase in tax revenue.

Challenges & Opportunities – Challenges noted were workforce retention & expansion, agile and efficient infrastructure delivery, and creative public finance tools. Opportunities noted were inflation catchup pay for county employees, adding 9 lieutenants and 9 engineers to the fire rescue budget, bond funding for 4 regional parks, and bond funding for 3 Fire/Sheriff joint stations.

In this part of the presentation was a request for a 7% pay increase to bring staff up to competitive salaries.

At the conclusion of Ms. Andrews presentation, Commissioner Dean pointed out that over the last 12 months, the Commission has denied more large residential projects than it has approved.

Jesse Dunn, Director of the Office of Management and Budgets presented the 2024 proposed budget. The video to see Mr. Dunn’s presentation can be found here:2024 Budget Presentation

It is great to see that the county has a new format for the budget workshops and there is an interactive web site to view the budget. This should provide much greater transparency into the budget.

Here is a link to the new site: OMB Budget Site

Taxable value growth increase for the year is 16.5%. This will be evident in our property tax bills at the end of the year. Notably, those of us with Homestead exemptions will only see a 3% increase in our tax bills as they are capped by state statute. Those properties without homestead exemptions will be seeing the 16.5% increase in their tax bills. This will result in $43.6 million in property tax revenue for the county.

August 1 will be the hearing on the approved millage rates that we will see in our TRIM notices later in the year.

During discussion Commissioner Dean recommended increasing funding for the LAMP program to $2 Million and to increase funding for library services. The board also agreed to the request to increase county employee salaries by 7% thus making their salaries more competitive and adding 18 positions to the Fire and Rescue Department.

There was also a request to increase library staff sufficient to have the libraries open 7 days a week.

All of these items will be included in the revisions that come back to the Commissioners on August 1.

Agenda Item #2 was request to waive time limits on when the Bella Terra PUD could be brought back to the Commission for review. This had been denied previously and the requirement is that they wait one year before reapplying. The waiver was approved 3-2.

Agenda Item 4 – Little Florence Cove – Nestled in the shadow of the future First Coast Expressway, this is a change in zoning designation from Rural Silviculture to Res A. This will be 5 residential units on 1- 2.5 acre lots. Approved 5-0.

Location of Little Florence Cove in relation to the Shands Bridge

Agenda Item 6 – St. Johns County Land Development Code Tree Protections was an item for discussion. At the conclusion of the presentation by staff there was a recitation by Commissioner Joseph with 14 new items that she is proposing to be added to future ordinances. I will not try to capture them all here, but suggest you watch the video. The Commissioners asked staff to do an in-depth review of the 14 points and come back to the Commissioners with recommendations.

The Video begins here: St Johns County Tree Protection Video

The presentation can be found here: St. Johns County Tree Protections Presentation

Agenda Item 11, Project Shamrock, was a presentation by Steve Livingstone, President and CEO of JAX USL (a St. Johns County resident) on a proposed sports complex near the intersection of CR 210 and SR 16A. Local star athlete Tim Tebow is one of the owners of JAX USL. They are proposing a public-private partnership that would enable professional soccer events as well as multi-purpose fields for local residents to enjoy.

Their proposal involves a 40 acre site on 16A that is already slated for ball fields but to do a land swap with FDOT to develop the adjacent land as part of this comprehensive sports complex.

Enhanced vision of the Sports Complex, incorporating the county ball fields

An important element of the proposal is in line with Mr. Tebow’s passion to serve those with disabilities so there is a focus on the ability to bring in Special Olympics to this facility.

They estimate a combined economic impact to the county (direct and indirect) of $150 Million per year and the creation of 1,380 jobs over a 10 year period.

Preliminary cost impacts are in the range of $30 Million.

This was a presentation on the potential of this project. Staff was directed to come back to the Commissioners with information on ownership, revenue that would be produced, and if FDOT would even be amenable to the land swap.

Commissioner Arnold did raise some concerns about how the facility would be available to local residents.

Commissioner Dean wants to see benefits and costs to the taxpayer from the staff when they come back to the Commissioners.

You can watch the presentation by Mr. Livingstone here, it is well worth the watch: Project Shamrock Video

And read more about the project here:

JAXUSL working with St. Johns County on proposed 15-field Community Sportsplex for First Coast

Agenda Item 12 – The much-awaited discussion on the Resignation of Hunter Conrad.

The video can be found here: Hunter Conrad Separation Agreement Video

There were 3 motions in this discussion.

The first was to accept the resignation of Hunter Conrad and authorize the Chair to execute the separation agreement and general release and to appoint Joy Andrews as Interim County Administrator.

The second was to authorize an employment agreement with the Interim County Administrator.

The third was to authorize an expedited nationwide search for a permanent replacement.

The agreement presented had already been signed by Hunter Conrad; this was the first opportunity for the Board to discuss the contract agreement.

The discussion amongst the commissioners on the topic became somewhat contentious. I encourage you to watch the video to gain more insights into the concerns raised.

A search committee was approved to work with the national search. The Committee named was made up of Commissioner Henry Dean, Clerk of the Court Brandon Patty, Human Resources Director Ms. Hutchinson, County Appraiser Eddie Creamer and Jerry Wilson, a retired Coca Cola executive. (Commissioner Whitehurst shared in an interview the following day that Mr. Creamer had advised he could not participate in the committee.)

Commissioner Reports

Commissioner Joseph recommended adding ASL signing to the Commissioner’s meetings. Ms. Andrews will reach out to the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind to see if they have a program where students can assist. She also asked to provide more public access to the information about the company who will be working with the county on the update of the Comprehensive Plan.

Commissioner Arnold asked for an economic development analysis to be done for Hastings. She also presented a request to purchase the Zora Neale Hurston home and work to preserve the historic value of this home. The Board agreed to issue a Letter of Intent to purchase the house in West Augustine. This will allow the county the opportunity to do the research and analysis necessary to make the purchase.

Commissioner Alaimo shared that he had attended his first Florida Association of Counties and thanked Commissioners Arnold and Whitehurst for nominating him to the FAC Board of Directors.

Nothing from Commissioner Whitehurst.

County Administration Report

Ms. Andrews shared that the county had just received grant money to purchase the Genovar property from the Florida Boating and Waterways Organization. This is 31 acres of land along the river, north of SR 312 and south of the Nix Boar Yard Road. It is anticipated this will become part of our Parks and Recreation assets.

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BOCC, St. Johns County

What is on the July 18 St. Johns County Board of County Commissioner’s Meeting?

Posted on July 13, 2023 by Beth Tate

The July 18 meeting is a bit lighter than recent meetings but could still be a long day.

There are no proclamations in this meeting so after the usual introductory items, they will be jumping right into the Public Safety Report and the Clerk of the Court’s report.

Then on to the Consent Agenda where there are 42 items to be approved.

Here are a few items on the Consent Agenda that may be of interest.

Items 4 and 5 are to approve transfer of impact fee credits from the Marshall Creek PUD to the Stokes Landing Workforce Housing Development and the Bridgewater PUD.

Items 6 is approval of School Concurrency Proportionate Share Mitigation Agreements for Greenbriar Helow PUD HBIS.

“The proportionate share mitigation for the HBIS Property for the 1,144 non-age restricted units is $18,208,155.00, which is being satisfied by the dedication of a 63 acre school site valued at $4,482,932.00 and the payment of the balance of the required proportionate share mitigation in the amount of $13,725,223.00 or $11,997.58 per unit. Dedication of the school site is required on or before December 31, 2023 and the remaining mitigation is required to be paid prior to Construction Plan approval. The Agreement also authorizes school impact fee credits in the amount of the total proportionate share mitigation. The Agreement was approved by the St. Johns County School Board on June 13, 2023, pursuant to the School Concurrency Interlocal Agreement, and the proposed Agreement must also be approved and executed by the BCC.”

The Item 7 description is approval of the School Concurrency Proportionate Share Mitigation agreement for Momentum Twin Creeks.

Interestingly, the supporting document for Item 7 is for Transportation mitigation.

“Twin Creeks Development Associates, LLC (Owner) and Momentum Residential, LLC (Applicant) have proposed a Proportionate Fair Share Agreement (Agreement) to mitigate the project’s transportation impacts to CR 210 and Alternate CR 210 pursuant to Section 11.09.04.B of the Land Development Code in order to meet transportation concurrency requirements for the Momentum Twin Creeks PUD for the development of 192 low-rise multi-family units.”

Item 22 is the bid award for the construction of Mill Creek Park, (formerly known as Turnbull Park.)

“Through an impact fee credit agreement, Murabella Owner LLC will be responsible for paying $950,000.00 (50%) of Phase 1 for the intersection of State Road 16 and Villages West Park Entrance.”

“2.1 Project Description The construction of Mill Creek Park (formerly known as Turnbull Park) located at 4625 State Road 16, St. Augustine, FL 32092 (Parcel ID 0286600000) consists of baseball and softball fields, a large multi-use field, parking, a concession stand, a stand-alone bathroom, an entry road, a turn lane, and supporting infrastructure.”

Supporting Information for the Mill Creek Park bid award can be found here:

Mill Creek Park Bid Award

Public Comment will be heard at time certain 11:30.

Regular Agenda Items

Agenda Item 1 is a report on recent First Responder Exercises with the St. Johns County Fire Rescue Department.

Agenda Item 2 is of interest to those who attended the March 7 BOCC meeting where the Bella Terra development was denied. The developer is requesting a waiver to the 1-year time constraint on when they can refile their application.

Agenda Item 4 is a request for a Comprehensive Plan amendment to change Future Land use designation of 19.81 acres of land from Rural/Silviculture to Res 1 with a text amendment limiting the property to a maximum of 5 single family dwelling units. This property is south of the SR 16/SR13 merger and just east of the Shand’s Bridge.

Agenda item 6 is a General Discussion that was requested of staff at the March 21, 2023 BOCC meeting regarding the St. Johns County Land Development code tree protections.

The very informative presentation can be found at this link: Tree Protections

Agenda Item 7 is the Fiscal Year 2024 Recommended Budget.

2024 Budget Presentation

Of note, there is a proposed millage increase this year that would result in an ~3% increase for Homesteaded properties, and ~16.5% increase for NON Homesteaded properties.

Agenda Item 11 is of great interest, an unsolicited proposal from Project Shamrock to develop a recreational and sporting facility in St. Johns county.

The County received an unsolicited proposal from Project Shamrock sharing their vision of developing a recreational and sporting facility in St. Johns County. Project Shamrock will present this proposal to the Board. The presenter for this project will be Steve Livingstone. Sports savvy residents will recognize that Mr. Livingstone has recently brought a new professional Soccer team to the Jacksonville area with plans for a women’s professional team as well.

You can read more about JAX USL at this link: JAX USL

Agenda Item 12 is review and consideration of the County Administrator’s (Hunter Conrad) separation agreement and the appointment of an Interim County Administrator. There is no indication in the documents about who the interim Administrator may be.

Link to the discussion documents can be found here: County Administrator Separation

It should be an interesting day!

Affordable Housing, BOCC, Growth & Development, St. Johns County

Commissioner Whitehurst on WSOS 103.9

Posted on July 7, 2023 by Beth Tate

On Thursday, July 7, I participated in a conversation with Commissioner Christian Whitehurst on local radio station WSOS 103.9

Beth Tate, The Kesley Group, with Commissioner Christian Whitehurst
photo courtesy of St. Johns County, Public Relations, Wayne Larson

Local business North Avenue Capital sponsors a monthly show on WSOS talking about all things St. Johns County. Commissioner Whitehurst and I were invited to talk about affordable housing needs in St. Johns County.

Ed Dwyer, North Avenue Capital with Commissioner Whitehurst
photo courtesy of St. Johns County, Public Relations, Wayne Larson

Since our invitation to the show, the Workforce Housing Ordinance was passed and Administrator Hunter Conrad resigned so the focus of the conversation shifted to more current topics. We were able to talk about the need to provide attainable housing for our teachers, firefighters, deputies, tourism and hospitality workers and others who support the county but can’t afford to live here.

You can watch the video on Facebook Live here: WSOS Facebook Live

Or listen to the conversation here:

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