Posted in PZA, St. Johns County

What’s Ahead at the St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency Meeting on November 2

Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) meets the 1st and 3rd Thursdays each month at 1:30 in the County Auditorium at 500 San Sebastian View

The Full Agenda for Thursday is here: PZA Agenda


Agenda Item 1 is in District 3

Woodlawn Apartments – a request for a Zoning Variance to replace 24 unused parking spaces with an approximately 7,560 square foot recreation area, located at 200 S. Woodlawn Street.

Agenda Item 2, also in District 3

A request by Mavis Tires for a Non-Zoning Variance to allow three (3) proposed building signs to exceed the required maximum Advertising Display Area (ADA) of 200 square feet per business by approximately 58 square feet, located at 1960 State Road 207.

Agenda Item 3, District 5

A request from Texas Roadhouse for a Non-Zoning Variance to allow for a Pole Sign height of 120 feet in lieu of the 85-foot maximum height as currently allowed within the St. Augustine Centre PUD. This is on Outlet Center Drive.

Site location for Texas Roadhouse

Agenda Item 4, back to District 3

Request for a Special Use Permit to allow for a Manufactured/Mobile Home as a residence in Residential, Single Family (RS3) at 900 West 4th Street.


Agenda Item 5, District 2

Request from Down Yonder for a Special Use Permit to allow for on-site sales and consumption of alcoholic beverages in connection with a proposed restaurant. This is located at 2455 State Road 16, a former Denny’s restaurant.


Agenda Item 6, District 1

Request for a Special Use Permit to allow for an indoor/outdoor wedding and special event venue, located at 2353 State Road 13 N; request includes the Emergency Vehicle Access to the Pole Barn is by way of adjoining property at 2369 State Road 13 N. Request includes the Emergency Vehicle Access to the Pole Barn is by way of adjoining property located at 2369 State Road 13 N. This property was previously a private grammar school.

If this one sounds familiar, it was originally heard by the PZA on March 3, 2022 and approved by the PZA at that time 5-2. There was a concern about compatibility within the Res-B designation and this being primarily a residential area. Concerns from the public included potential noise, how many people may be present and alcohol consumption. A nearby neighbor expressed concerns about music during events.

The project did not commence within the 1-year deadline so the Order became void. The applicant has provided minor changes to the plans including emergency access to the pole barn from an adjacent site and not using the northern buildings as part of the event venue.

Location of proposed Wedding Venue

Agenda Items 7 & 8 are minor setback variance requests.

Agenda Items 9 & 10 are in District 3

These 2 items are from Sushi 99 St. Augustine. Both are related to a request for a Special Use Permit to allow for the on-site sales and consumption of alcoholic beverages at 270 Plaza Boulevard, Suite 1 and 2. One is to allow the on-site sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages and the other is to allow the same within 1000 ft. of a church.

A similar request was approved in 2022, in the same shopping center, for Publix to sell package alcohol within 1000 ft. of a church.

Site location with proximity to existing church

Agenda Item 11, District 5

This request is for a Major Modification to the Twin Creeks PUD to add a new access connection point along CR 210 West for the Light Industrial parcel located to the south.

“The new access will be a right-in right-out (RIRO) road intersection and does not propose a full median opening in this location. The request is being made in order to facilitate reasonable access to the JEA utility site that is located in this Light Industrial area, which is currently being accessed via a temporary access point located along CR 210 W. Additionally, the new access point is part of the County’s ongoing efforts to work with the developers of Twin Creek DRI/PUD to improve traffic in area, including the widening CR 210 West.”

Location of new access point

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Posted in BOCC, PZA, St. Johns County

What’s Ahead this Week in St. Johns County Government

This week has some important meetings on the St. Johns County Government calendar.

Start Monday, October 30, with a “Meet and Greet” from 4 – 6 PM in the County Auditorium.

The final candidates for the St. Johns County Administrator position will be on hand for you to get an in-person look at who is in the final running.

Oh, and they’ll be serving Ice Cream if meeting the candidates isn’t enough to entice you!

photo from Canva

On Tuesday, October 31, beginning at 9:00 AM in the County Auditorium, the County Commissioners will conduct interviews of the four final candidates for the county Administrator position. These will be conducted in public, with the candidates recusing themselves from each others interviews.

This puts a panel interview into a whole new light, with the public in person and observing your interview!

You can watch them live on GTV. Link to GTV


Moving ahead to November, the Planning and Zoning Agency will have it’s first meeting of the month on Thursday, November 2, at 1:30 in the County Auditorium. I’ll be sharing the Agenda soon.


Interested in the Beach Management Plan?

On Friday, November 3, the County will be conducting discussions with the top 2 ranked firms for this project. Discussions in the County Auditorium will be closed to the public but recorded “in accordance with public records laws.”

At the conclusion of the discussions, there will be a public evaluation meeting to announce the updated scores for the 2 finalists.

Presentation Schedule

9:30 AM – 10:10 AM

Olsen Associates, Inc.

10:20 AM – 11:00 AM

Atkins North America, Inc.

11:15 AM

Final Ranking Meeting (Public Meeting)


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Posted in PZA, St. Johns County

Look Ahead to the October 19 St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency Meeting

There are 8 items on the Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) meeting this week.

Several of the items are minor in scope.

Full Agenda can be found here: October 19 PZA Agenda


Items of interest are:

District 5

Item 2 on the Agenda is a Car Wash on US1 South, north of State Road 312 and south of Nix Boat Yard Road. This is the former Sonny’s BBQ location on US1 South. The property is zoned Commercial General.

Location of proposed car wash

District 2

Item 3 on the Agenda is a request from The Home Depot for a Non-Zoning Variance to the Land Development Code to allow 610.5 sq. ft of Advertising Display Area for the Home Depot building wall signage in lieu of the maximum 200 sq. ft. per business. This is located on International Golf Parkway, near the current Buc-ee’s.

Agenda item is here: Home Depot Signage

Location of new Home Depot
Site Plan for Home Depot

District 1

Item 7 on the Agenda is the Race Track Road PUD request for a modification to the Race Track Road PUD to allow construction of a Self-Storage facility, which is an allowable use within the PUD. The request is a waiver for the distance from residential homes.

Agenda item found here: Race Track Road PUD

Race Track Road PUD – location of self-storage building

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Posted in PZA, St. Johns County

What’s on the October 5 Planning and Zoning Agency Agenda

The October 5 Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) Agenda has only 6 items and most of those are non-controversial so the meeting should go quickly.

Link to Agenda is here: October 5 PZA Agenda


First up on the agenda is an item deferred from August and that is electing the new Chair and Vice-Chair for 2024. This had been deferred until after the PZA hearing on the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club.


Agenda item 2 is one that usually generates much interest, a request for a Car Wash Facility.

“A request for a Special Use Permit to allow for a Car Wash Facility in Commercial General (CG) zoning, pursuant to Section 2.03.50 of the Land Development Code, located at the intersection of Hometown Lane and State Road 207.”

The location is a vacant lot in District 3, off of Hometown Lane, across from a Dollar General and in front of the San Marcos Heights Apartments.

Location Map of the car wash

Full presentation is at this link: Agenda Item 2 – Car Wash


Agenda Item 3 is in District 1, on State Route 13N. This is a request for a Special Use Permit to 1) allow sales and consumption of alcoholic beverages and 2) to allow Outdoor Seating at the Bella Vista Restaurant in Fruit Cove.

Location Map
Proposed improvements

Link to Presentation: Agenda Item 3 – Fruit Cove Restaurant


Also in District 1, Agenda Item 4 is a request for a Non-Zoning Variance to allow for building wall signs to exceed 150 square feet per sign and 200 square feet per business on the Wal-Mart Fruit Cove building located at 13N and Race Track Road.

Site Plan with sign locations marked

Full Presentation is here: Agenda Item 4 – Wal-Mart Signage


Agenda Item 5 is in District 5 and is a request to rezone .59 acres of land from Open Rural to Commercial Warehouse at 135 Nix Boat Yard Road

Compatibility Map

This is a vacant building recently used as a day care center, located in the midst of other commercial properties.

The proposed purchaser of the property is a local, family owned business that has outgrown current facilities at 164 and 190 Nix Boat Yard Rd.  The intended purpose of the facility would be light manufacturing, production, packaging and shipping, and associated office space.

Full Presentation is here: Agenda Item 5 – Nix Boat Yard Road project


The last Agenda Item of the day is back in District 3 and is a request to rezone Commercial Property to Residential, Single Family. The intent is to build 4 single-family homes on the property.

Full Presentation can be found here: Agenda Item 6 – 4 Residential Units

Location Map
Site Plan for 4 residential Units
Site Rendering

Posted in PZA

Important St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency Meeting September 21

The September 21 Planning and Zoning Agency (PZA) meeting in St. Johns County has only 3 items on the agenda but may be a very long day.

The meeting on the 21st will be held at a special time, 11:00 AM, in the County Auditorium at 500 San Sebastian View.

The first item on the agenda, the Ponte Vedra Resort PUD, could be a very long discussion item. Accordingly, the agenda includes a time certain to hear items 2 and 3 on the agenda at 1:30. PZA members have been advised at previous meeting that this could be a long day because of the Ponte Vedra Resort PUD. It is anticipated there will be high attendance at this meeting. Earlier meetings have had as many as 600 people show up for this application review.

Staff has shared at the last PZA meeting that if the Ponte Vedra Resort PUD discussion is not finished at 1:30, they will continue that discussion after the 1:30 time certain items are heard.

Full Agenda is here: September 21 PZA Agenda


The first item to be heard at 1:30 is a relatively minor zoning variance for a front yard setback to accommodate a room addition to a home in District 5. These usually go fairly quickly.


Agenda Item 3, to be heard in the 1:30 session, is one of importance to residents of the Rock Springs Farms community in District 3.

“Request for a Major Modification to the Rock Springs Farms PUD (Ordinance No. 2017-49, as amended) to clarify the project is limited to 182 single family dwelling units and remove the obligation of the Rock Springs Farms Homeowners Association (HOA) to fund the maintenance of the dedicated public park.”

There have been several discussions regarding this change since residents began coming to the Board of County Commissioners Meeting with their concerns that their HOA was responsible for maintaining a public park owned by the County.

APPLICATION SUMMARY
The Rock Springs Farms HOA recently became aware the HOA was responsible for the maintenance of the approximate eight-acre County-owned public park located in the eastern portion of community, adjacent to US 1. HOA representatives informed the County they were not aware of this provision and did not have the funds to maintain the park; therefore, they have requested the County take over the maintenance of the public park. This proposed PUD Major Modification will remove the obligation for the HOA to fund and maintain the County-owned park. Further, the applicant is clarifying the Rock Springs Farms PUD consists of 182 dwelling units, as was approved by SMADJ 2019-06, and removes the density bonus provision. There are no other changes to the Master Development Plan (MDP) Text and no changes to the MDP Map.”

Details are here: Rock Springs Farms PUD modification


The main feature of the day is Agenda Item 1, PUD 2023-02 Ponte Vedra Resort.

Background information – the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club has filed a request as follows:

“Request to rezone approximately 91 acres of land from Open Rural (OR), Single Family Residential District (R-1-B), Single Family Residential District (R-1-C), Multiple Family Residential District (R-2), Commercial District (R-3), and Recreational
District (R-4) to Planned Unit Development (PUD), to allow the redevelopment of resort lodging, restaurant, recreational, commercial, and office facilities within the the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club and the Lodge Property.”

Link to the full presentation is here: Ponte Vedra Inn and Club PUD application

There has been quite a bit of debate and controversy surrounding this request. There are 31 waivers requested in this application. That appears to be a groundbreaking number of waivers for one PUD.

On September 6, the Architectural Review Committee met and, in a 4 hour meeting, approved the architectural style but chose not to vote on the requested PUD application. These is an advisory meeting only with the results to be taking into consideration with the Board of County Commissioner’s vote later this year.

On September 11, the Ponte Vedra Zoning and Architectural Board met and after a 12 hour meeting, in a split vote, denied the project. While 29 of the waivers were approved, the 2 denied had to do with height waivers. Several of the approved waivers were modified by the applicant during the discussion, in order to get the approval. The Ponte Vedra Recorder published a report on the meeting here: Ponte Vedra Recorder coverage


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