For the Third Time, Fruit Cove Neighbors Beat Back a Daily's Gas Station on State Road 13

The St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Board voted unanimously Thursday to deny a proposed Daily's gas station and car wash on State Road 13 next to the Fruit Cove Estates neighborhood — the third time in a decade that plans for a fuel stop on the site have been rejected. For families in fast-growing Fruit Cove, the decision keeps roughly 5,500 projected daily vehicle trips away from their only neighborhood entrance and a nearby school bus stop, at least for now.

Neighbors turned the July 9 meeting at the county complex in St. Augustine into a show of force, filling the room in matching red shirts and pressing officials to say no. According to local news reports, the board's rejection came after nearly an hour of discussion — and it marks another setback in developer First Coast Energy's long-running effort to build on the property.

Why residents pushed back

The core objection was traffic and safety. Residents said a 24-pump station drawing thousands of trips a day would funnel cars, and large trucks, past the single entrance serving their homes — a street called Otoe's Place — and near a school bus stop where children gather.

Fruit Cove Estates HOA president Michael Dunlop told the board the plans projected close to 5,500 daily vehicle trips in and out of the station, a figure that drew applause from the packed room. He argued the developer had months to prepare and urged the board not to be swayed, according to local media outlets.

All 44 homes in Fruit Cove Estates opposed the current proposal — a rare, block-by-block unanimity that residents leaned on throughout the night.

Neighbors framed it simply: two prior denials had already ruled the site wrong for a large gas station, and nothing about the traffic picture had improved.

One resident, Keith Dube, told officials the third attempt was no charm, noting the plan had been ruled on and denied twice before. Another neighbor, Chris Hewitt, pointed to a rise in crashes at the nearby intersection over the past two years and called the idea that adding station traffic would be safe unconvincing, local news reports said.

The missing traffic study

A key sticking point at the meeting was a procedural one: First Coast Energy did not submit a complete traffic study ahead of the hearing. That gap drew criticism from residents and board members alike, and it undercut the developer's case on the exact issue neighbors cared about most.

A decade of attempts

First Coast Energy purchased the property in 2016 and has repeatedly tried to develop it as a gas station. County commissioners rejected an earlier Daily's proposal for the same site in 2019. Thursday's vote is the latest chapter in that back-and-forth.

When contacted previously, First Coast Energy declined to provide a public statement, and company representatives did not address questions at Thursday's meeting, according to reports.

What it means for Fruit Cove

The vote is a clear win for the neighborhood, but zoning fights in a corner of the county growing as quickly as Fruit Cove rarely end cleanly. A planning board denial reflects the board's recommendation and decision on the current application; a landowner can revise plans or pursue other avenues over time — which is part of why residents keep organizing.

For now, the immediate outcome is straightforward: no Daily's on this stretch of State Road 13, and one fewer traffic worry for the families whose only way in and out runs right past the disputed lot.

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