St. Johns Commissioners Vote to Block Nocatee-Area Mega Development, But May Lack Power to Stop It

St. Johns County commissioners voted 3-2 on Tuesday to deny a plan that would open more than 4,400 acres of agricultural land north of Nocatee to housing, but the county may have no real power to make that vote stick. Because the motion to formally reject the project failed on a procedural technicality, the land will be automatically certified as an Agricultural Enclave, clearing the way for development, if commissioners don't reach a final approve-or-deny decision by Sept. 28.

The vote capped a four-hour meeting that drew dozens of residents opposed to the project, which sits between Nocatee's northern edge and the Intracoastal Waterway, across from Palm Valley and Ponte Vedra Beach. Commissioners Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst voted to approve the development. The rest of the board voted no.

In a second vote, commissioners agreed to explore legal action against SB 686, the state law that created the fast-track approval process the developer is using. That could include seeking a court injunction. Arnold and Whitehurst voted against pursuing any legal fight, and one concern raised at the meeting was whether challenging the law would end up costing county taxpayers.

Who's behind the project

The property belongs to the Davis family, which founded the Winn-Dixie grocery chain. Their development partner, The PARC Group, is the same firm behind Nocatee itself, along with eTown and EverRange. Under the enclave designation, the developer could build as many as 4,462 homes on the site, roughly one per acre, which would make the project about 30% the size of the 14,000-acre Nocatee community it borders.

PARC Group has said the application supports "responsible long-range planning in areas near existing infrastructure and population centers," and argues the enclave process is meant for farmland that is already largely surrounded by development. The company says its submitted boundary meets the law's threshold.

The 50% question

SB 686 requires that qualifying land be bordered by existing or planned development along most of its perimeter before it can be fast-tracked. Resident Chelsea Santeomo told commissioners the application doesn't back that up with the parcel-level detail the law demands.

Santeomo argued that if commissioners push the enclave through without that analysis, residents would have grounds to sue. Another resident, Sherry Bader, told the board the process had been mishandled from the start, saying the county dropped the ball early on and is now scrambling to catch up.

What the Sept. 28 deadline means

SB 686 took effect July 1 and lets landowners bypass the county's normal comprehensive plan and rezoning process if their property qualifies as an agricultural enclave. The law gives county staff 30 days to review an application and commissioners another 30 days to rule on it. If the county misses that window, or if a vote doesn't result in a clean approval or denial, the certification happens automatically.

That is the bind commissioners are now in. Tuesday's 3-2 vote expressed the board's opposition, but because the motion didn't produce a legally clean denial, the clock keeps running toward Sept. 28. If nothing changes before then, the enclave designation kicks in on its own, regardless of how the board voted.

County officials have not said what legal path they intend to pursue against SB 686, or how fast a court could act before the deadline arrives. Whether Tuesday's vote means anything in practice may ultimately be decided in a courtroom, not a commission chamber.

For more on this story and other local decisions shaping growth in the county, visit St. Johns Community Website, follow us on Facebook, and join the conversation in our Community Forum. You can also read more government and politics stories and local news as this fight over the Nocatee-area development continues.

Header photo: Michael Rivera / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)