Tuesday’s meeting was long, as was anticipated. The big item on the agenda was the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club PUD, heard at a time certain of 1:00. The crowd started rolling in around noon.
But here’s what happened before the main event.
The meeting opened with 2 Proclamations.
Proclamation for Veteran’s Day – Representatives from the St. Johns County Veterans Council, Bill Dudley and Joe McDermott accepted the Proclamation. Colonel Dudley shared that on Veteran’s Day, November 11, there will be a celebration honoring all veterans at the Anastasia Baptist Church, 1650 A1A South, at 11:00 AM. Colonel Dudley also sahred about the Veterans Treatment Court, established in January 2017. This was established through funding provided by the County Commissioners and since that time 101 Veterans have gone through that Court successfully. When veterans graduate from the program, they are presented with a certificate and a Challenge Coin. Colonel Dudley and Mr. McDermott presented Challenge Coins to each of the Commissioners and to the Administration Staff in appreciation for the support the Court has received from the County. Commisioner Dean made note that Friday is the 248th Birthday of the U. S. Marine Corp.
To learn more about the St. Johns County Veterans Council – check out this page: St. Johns County Veterans Council
The second Proclamation was for National Adoption Month.
A Certificate of Recognition was presented to the West Augustine CRA acknowledging 10 years of Keep Calm and Walk for Cancer. During this presentation Commissioner Henry Dean and Retired Lt. Colonel Vernon Pinkney were recognized for their commitment to the cause.
Public Safety Report
Director Skip Cole (Criminal Investigations) presented on behalf of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. He shared about the November 4th incident in Davis Park that ended with a lethal force action by one of the deputies. He noted that even though we live in one of the safest communities in the country, we are not immune to violence. SJSO reminds us to remain vigilant and not be a soft target. He also spoke about the on-going impact of the incident. While most of us will move on from this news incident quickly, there were people involved directly and indirectly who will not move on so quickly. He noted the deputies who had to take action that ended in loss of life, the fire rescue personnel who treated the wounded individual, the dispatcher who took the call, and the detective who attended the autopsy and the detective that had to talk to the individual’s parents about the death. They will not move on quickly. The Sheriff’s office does have resources to assist these individuals but be mindful of what they go through. He also noted that this incident happened in the presence of many children and families at the Park for their usual Saturday activities. SJSO has communicated with the schools and support groups to create a network of support for the folks who were impacted by their proximity to the incident. He thanked the community for their on-going support of law enforcement and the victims.
Director Cole also shared a more upbeat topic and that was the attendance of SJSO and other county staff at the first annual Trystn Bailey Gala. This event is to raise money the Trystyn Bailey fund established in honor of St. Johns County resident Trystyn Bailey, whose life was cut short in 2021. You can learn more about the fund and it’s goals at this link:
Fire Rescue was represented by Jeremy RobShaw who shared information about the 2 Day Fire Expo that began on November 7. Speakers and First Responders from all over the country are in St. Augustine for the Expo.
Clerk of the Court’s report
During the month of November, in honor of veterans, the Clerk’s Office is waiving standard fees for passports and notary services for veterans or dependents with a discharged military ID, military independent ID or a Driver’s license with a veterans designation.
The Clerk’s office continues to work on recovering dollars lost because of a fraud event several weeks ago.
Public Infrastructure Update
Updates were provided on 4 projects:
Legislative Affairs Update
The Legislative Affairs update gave a brief overview of what could be expected during the upcoming Florida Legislative session. A Special Session was under way during the past week.
The County has submitted reqeusts for $96.45 million in funding for the 2024-2025 budget.
Mr. Teckler also shared highlights of how the Federal Agenda is impacting St. Johns County. Until the Budget concerns are addressed in Congress, the requests from St. Johns County that have gone through Congressman Rutherford’s office, appear to be in a holding pattern.
Consent Agenda
There were no changes to the Consent Agenda
Regular Agenda
Agenda Item 1 – Presentation on the Total earned unused and undistributed revenue.
Our Tax Collector, Dennis Hollingsworth presented interesting information on the tax revenues collected within the county. He also encouraged people to call him if there are issues with ability to pay taxes on homesteaded property. They are committed to not helping people stay in their homesteaded properties. The number is 904-209-2280.
Watch his presentation here: Tax Revenue Presentation
Some highlights from the presentation:
Agenda Item 2
Approval and recognition of FIND Grant Project Agreement for Genovar Land Acquisition
“On February 7, 2023, the Board approved the submission of a Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) grant application for reimbursement of Genovar land acquisition costs. FIND awarded a $1,055,500 grant for acquisition of the 31 acres of Genovar property located North of SR 312 and South of Nix Boat Yard and situated along the San Sebastian River with deep water access for a public boat ramp, parking, and passive recreation. Parks and Recreation is requesting authorization to sign FIND Project Agreement #SJ-23-217 for Genovar Land Acquisition”
This presentation was to approve the grant project agreement for this 31 acres of land to be developed into a public boat ramp and passive park.
It was approved 5-0
Agenda Item 3 – Nix Boat Yard
“Request to Rezone approximately 0.59 acres of land from Open Rural (OR) to Commercial Warehouse (CW) with conditions, specifically located at 135 Nix Boat Yard Road. The Planning and Zoning Agency heard this request at their regularly scheduled public hearing on October 5, 2023, and recommended approval with a vote of 5-0. Agency members discussed the previous daycare facility and when it relocated. There was one public comment that questioned the buffering, traffic, parking and proposed clientele. In response, the applicant discussed a proposed 20/B buffer; since the PZA hearing, the applicant has included an additional condition to the Rezoning that states a 20/B buffer will be installed and maintained on the west side of the property adjacent to the existing Commercial Office.”
Just a bit north of the Genovar project is this request from local company Fishbites, to rezone from Open Rural to Commercial Warehouse. This is to allow them to expand their production, packaging and shipping along with office space and a showroom.
Learn more about local company Fishbites here: Fishbites
Approved 5-0
Agenda Item 5 – First Reading of the Proposed Amendments to the St. Johns County Beach Code
This item was the result of a request from Roy Alaimo at the October 3, 2023 Commissioner’s meeting, to review and update the Beach Code to reflect changes in uses of the beach.
Changes are:
Addition of Drones to Section 3.14
No one operating, directing or responsible for any aircraft, seaplane, helicopter, glider, balloon, dirigible, parachute, drone, or other aerial apparatus shall take off from or land within park property or the beach.
Updates to Section 3.15 Electric Motorized Devices
And Section 5 Prohibited Acts was changed to read:
Operate any motor vehicle so as to intentionally cause sand to be thrown into the air or across any beach area.
A suggestion from Public Comment to require e-bikes to be registered for use on the beach will be reviewed for feasibility before the second reading.
Agenda Items 6 and 7 were appointments to the Contractors Review Board and the Cultural Resource Review Board.
Tyler Lee, Kyle Jones, and Kylee Turner were all approved 5-0 to serve another term on the Board.
Robert Olson was reappointed to the Cultural Resource Review Board 5-0
At this time they were ahead of schedule so heard Commissioner’s Reports.
Commissioner Alaimo commented on the value of the joint meeting with the School Board.
Commissioner Whitehurst shared that he had begun negotiations with Joy Andrews on the County Administrator employment contract but it would not be completed before the end of his term as Chair. He recommended passing that responsibility to the next Chair. The vote was 5-0 to approve that change.
Public Comment
During the first Public Comment, residents brought forward a concern that had been raised to the Commissioners previously about the development of property on SR 13, next to the housing development known as Otoe’s Place.
TECO owns the property and can, by right, build commercial on the property. Their proposal would cause the loss of over 200 trees. Commissioner Whitehurst had previously asked staff to work with TECO to look at plans on how they could preserve as many trees as possible.
The residents who spoke pointed out existing curb cuts for ingress and egress that would not impact the trees on Otoe’s Place and questioned why the entrance to their development would need to be impacted by removal of trees for a new entrance.
The Commissioners again asked staff to work with the community and the property owner to come up with a solution that would preserve as many trees as possible.
There was a break for lunch before the big item of the day, the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club PUD, heard at 1:00 time certain.
Agenda Item 8 – Ponte Vedra Resort
The full presentation with public correspondence can be found at this link: Ponte Vedra Resort PUD
You can watch the presentation at this link: Ponte Vedra Resort PUD Video
Assistant Attorney Valliere went through the format for the presentation. Because there is an adversely affected party involved, they used a Public Hearing Format.”
The outline was:
Swearing in of witnesses, including county staff, applicant’s representatives and any members of the public wishing to speak.
- Followed by the applicant presentation – they were allowed 45 minutes.
- The adversely affected party was next with 20 minutes allowed.
- There were 4 designated representatives with 10 minutes each to speak.
- Followed by public comment with 3 minutes each.
- After public comment, the adversely affected party has 5 minutes for rebuttal
- And the applicant gets 20 minutes for rebuttal
- Finally back to the board for discussion and a vote
The Commissioners shared Ex Parte disclosures.
All Commissioners had communications going as far back as 4th quarter of 2022.
Communications included meetings and email correspondence. Commissioner Dean pointed out that the emails are public record and that the public can request to review the 200-300 emails received by each commissioner.
John Peyton, President of the Gate Corporation, made opening remarks about the history and legacy of Gate Corporation and what they are proposing with this project.
If you’d like to skip just to Mr. Peyton’s presentation, start here: John Peyton Remarks
He highlighted that these properties are “legacy” properties and important to the family.
At the end of the applicant’s presentation, Commissioner Joseph asked Ms. Avery Smith several clarifying questions.
The Adverse parties were represented by Attorney Doug Burnett. You can watch his presentation here: Adverse Party Presentation
After hours of presentation and public comment, both for and against, the Board began their discussion.
Commissioner Joseph read a prepared statement (it was typed so did not appear to be something she wrote during the presentation.) Her statement included conditions she wanted to see changed in the PUD and at the end of the statement, she indicated this was a motion to the Board.
Watch that here: Commissioner Joseph Statement
Ms. Avery Smith asked when Commissioner Joseph had written the document that become a motion. The Commissioner indicated she had written it last week with the thought that if this was going to work, these were the things she wanted to hear.
Chair Whitehurst asked Attorney Migut to opine on establishing when the motion was written.
Attorney Migut clarified that Judicial decisions are supposed to be made based on the recorded evidence, which includes what was in the packet provided ahead of the testimony heard on Tuesday.
Commissioner Joseph reiterated she had written it ahead of time but only decided to read it based on what she heard in the meeting.
Ms. Avery Smith stated that they would not agree to the terms of the motion that Commissioner Joseph read.
The motion died for lack of a second.
There was more discussion from the Board, including how concerns for some of the Commissioners had been addressed through the changes that were made to the PUD along the way, in response to concerns from residents and others.
Commissioner Arnold made a motion in favor and it passed 4-1.
Commissioner Joseph thanked the staff for all their hard work on the PUD.
With nothing further, the meeting adjourned.
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Beth Tate 