ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – St. Johns County commissioners are set to vote Aug. 18 on whether to place a $100 million land conservation bond measure on the November ballot. It would give residents the final say on a plan to protect natural lands, water quality and open space across the county.
News4Jax spoke with two people at a polling location on Friday.
“I’d rather see those kinds of things be fee based rather than just rolled into a blanket property tax,” one man said.
Another woman added, “My property taxes continue to increase, and I’m not interested in additional increases.”
News4Jax reached out to the Matanzas Riverkeeper. The organization said:
On Tuesday, the St. Johns County Commissioners will decide whether to ask voters if saving lands that protect water, wildlife habitat, farms, and forests is a priority for them or not. Most of these lands are likely at risk of development without this measure. There will be a transparent process to prioritize properties to be protected, which will be open to the public and subject to review by an advisory committee, the County Commission, and our community.
If referred to the ballot, voters will be able to decide whether to increase funding for the Land Acquisition and Management Program (LAMP) which was established a few years ago but only has annual allocation of $500,000.
The big challenge for St. Johns County is that without a more significant dedication of funds, they can’t move quickly when a critical conservation property becomes available. Without dedicated funding, many key natural lands that protect places like the Matanzas River, the St. Johns River, and lands important to our drinking water, wildlife, and beaches will be lost to development.
The ballot measure would authorize the county to have access to capital to move quickly, and specifies 0.15 mills - $15 on every $100,000 of assessed value - from local property taxes as the funding source. For the typical homeowner in St. Johns County that translates to around $3.35 per month on a home assessed at $268,394 after all current exemptions. People who don’t pay property taxes will not pay for this directly.
Bonds are a mechanism to provide access to that capital up front, but need not be used if the county chooses to dedicate impact fees, grants, or other funding sources. There are 25 existing county land conservation programs across Florida that are voter authorized, and every one of them uses a combination of funding sources and partners to achieve their goals. If run effectively, St. Johns County can turn $100 million locally into $300 million or more with regional, state, and federal matching funds and private donations.
We also reached out to Trust for Public Land who tells News4Jax they helped the county with the measure and their polling suggests overall in the county 5-1 people support the measure.
The proposal, if approved by commissioners, would appear as a referendum question in the Nov. 3, 2026, General Election.
Voters would decide whether the county should issue general obligation bonds to fund the acquisition, restoration and management of conservation lands through its Land Acquisition and Management Program, known as LAMP.
What the bond would fund
If passed by voters, the bonds, issued in one or more series, would finance the purchase and stewardship of lands that protect drinking water resources, wildlife habitat, coastal areas, working farms and forests, and outdoor recreation. The measure also aims to reduce flooding.
The bonds would mature within 20 years of each issuance and carry interest rates no higher than the legal maximum.
Repayment would come from a property tax levy of up to 0.15 mills on all taxable property in the county. For context, a mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of taxable property value, meaning the proposed rate would amount to $15 annually for every $100,000 of taxable value on a property.
We spoke with County Commissioner Ann Taylor who said, “That money would be put into a bond up to I believe it’s $100 million. That’s substantial. So, that actually could purchase a decent amount of land. And when any property, of course it would have to be a willing seller, and then that property would go before the lamp board.”
How LAMP fits in
St. Johns County established LAMP through Ordinance No. 2021-38 as the county’s dedicated framework for identifying, evaluating, acquiring, restoring and managing environmentally significant lands.
The bond program would operate entirely within that structure, meaning acquisitions and land management decisions would follow LAMP’s existing criteria and oversight processes.
How the bonds would be issued
The county would have the flexibility to issue the bonds in one or more series rather than all at once, allowing it to pace borrowing in line with acquisition opportunities and program needs.
Each series would carry its own 20-year maturity window from the date of issuance, and interest rates would be capped at the legal maximum under Florida law.
Developers in St. Johns County
The conservation effort comes as St. Johns County faces intensifying development pressure, including from SB 686, a new state law that took effect July 1, giving agricultural landowners a faster path to residential development.
Six properties in the county are already in line for certification under the law, including more than 4,000 acres near Nocatee in northern St. Johns County.
St. Johns County Growth Management Director Mike Roberson has acknowledged the law significantly shifts local authority.
“This is less authority. This is a removal of authority,” Roberson said. “I think there’s just been a general trend from the state producing laws that have given, as you say, a little more leeway or more flexibility for developers to maybe get entitlements.”
Once a property is certified under the law, the county cannot reject development based on land use, zoning or traffic, and those rights are permanent.
“Once they achieve those rights or those entitlements, they’ll get them in perpetuity,” Roberson said.
Commissioners have begun pushing back. Rather than immediately pursuing a lawsuit, the board voted 5-0 to direct the County Attorney’s Office to explore the cost and viability of an injunction against the law.
“A motion was made and seconded to move forward to ask our legal department to do two things. We wanted to get a consultation with an outside consultant to find out the viability of getting an injunction. The second thing is we wanted to find out how much it was going to cost,” Murphy said.
A public hearing on the agricultural enclave applications is scheduled for Aug. 19 — one day after commissioners vote on the conservation bond referendum.
What commissioners will vote on
On Aug. 18, commissioners will vote on whether to formally place the measure on the November ballot.
If they approve it, the question goes to St. Johns County voters on Nov. 3 — and they will have the final say.