ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – St. Johns County has changed a lot over the past 25 years, and it will keep changing.
That’s why the county is holding open houses where residents can help shape the area’s future through a proposed 25-year plan designed to keep up with the county’s booming growth.
St. Johns County is currently one of the fastest-growing counties in Florida, and commissioners want residents to have a say in how the county grows over the next 25 years.
The comprehensive plan will help guide the area’s future, creating what county leaders are calling a 2050 planning horizon.
It will include long-range goals for transportation, housing, infrastructure, recreation and coastal conservation.
Nothing will be set in stone, and the plan will be re-evaluated and updated at least once every seven years with continued feedback from the community.
Michael Roberson, St. Johns County Growth Management Director, said he wants voters to know their voices count.
“I hear a lot of frustration from people that think, ‘Oh, they won’t listen to me.’ And as a staff member for St. Johns County, we don’t want to hear that,” Roberson said. “We want them to provide us with feedback, so we have that baseline of ‘This is what people care about.’”
The first open house for residents to share thoughts on the comprehensive plan is from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the County Auditorium in St. Augustine.
A second session will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the same location.
Commissioners plan to hold at least one more open house this summer.
If you can’t make either session on Tuesday, there is an online survey that only takes a few minutes to complete. The deadline is July 31.
The county is already collecting ideas through the survey. If you click the tab next to the survey, there is an Idea Wall that asks “What is your vision for the future of St. Johns County?”
There are nearly 200 suggestions already, including adding a new fire station along State Road 13 and creating bicycle paths that are separated from the road.
Among the suggestions are also competing ideas to embrace development and slow growth.
You can also take the survey in person at any of the following locations:
- Anastasia Island Branch Library, 124 Sea Grove Main St., St. Augustine Beach
- Bartram Trail Branch Library, 60 Davis Pond Blvd., Fruit Cove
- Hastings Branch Library, 6195 S. Main St., Hastings
- Main Branch Library, 1960 N. Ponce De Leon Blvd., St. Augustine
- Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library, 101 Library Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
- Southeast Branch Library, 6670 US 1 South, St. Augustine
- St. Johns County Utility Department, 1205 State Road 16, St. Augustine
- St. Johns County Permit Center, 4040 Lewis Speedway, St. Augustine
- St. Johns County Auditorium, 500 San Sebastian View, St. Augustine