St. Johns County Commission Chairman Jeremiah Ray Blocker answered questions by the public as the guest speaker at the Beaches Coalition Sept. 20 meeting.
According to Blocker, the county population has grown 44% over the past 10 years, which is second in the state behind only Osceola County.
“Those people came here because they wanted the best schools and best way of life,” Blocker said. “The pandemic accelerated residential growth, because everyone is wanting to move here.”
However, with growth also comes challenges, especially when it comes to infrastructure and public safety.
“When you add 100,000 people, you’re going to have some problems and you have to have the law enforcement in place to handle that,” Blocker said.
Blocker stated that he believed recently elected sheriff has been doing a great job, and he believes Hardwick should be given the substantial increase to the Sheriff department’s budget he is asking for.
“We don’t want to be an overgrown community,” Blocker said. “We can’t stop them from moving here, but we can be organized and ready for what’s coming.”
One question asked was whether there could be a moratorium placed on county growth.
“Legally, it’s very difficult to do that,” Blocker said. “We can address it in a different way by scrutinizing developments that are not right for St. Johns County.”
Blocker responded to a question about JEA and their provided service areas in St. Johns County by informing the crowd that the county’s franchise agreement with JEA is up for review in 2024.
He also thinks it could be worth looking into implementing a new form of government structure in the county moving forward.
Currently, the county has five commissioners that rotate an elected chairman.
“The issue is that one or two commissioners can derail a whole project,” Blocker said.
According to Blocker, Orange County and Volusia County each have a county mayor in place that can help outline the future vision of those counties.
An example he gave against the current structure is the fact that it took years before a bed tax was passed.
“We missed a lot of revenue when The Players rolled through for years,” Blocker said. “I don’t agree with every decision made on the board, but that’s just government.”
The question arose whether the clear-cutting taking place in association with the construction of a new Gate gas station along State Road A1A complied or not.
Anna Russo Bono brought up the fact that she saw a bobcat in her backyard and domestic animals in the Dolphin Cove neighborhood have been missing lately.
She believes the two are related to the clear cutting driving wild animals out of their habitat and into populated areas.
As a result, Bono is scared to put out her cat and is also concerned with the future well-being of her children.
According to Blocker, the current commission has made the penalty for improper clear cutting more stringent than it has been in past years, which is something he is proud of.
Blocker expressed concern and assured that he has already asked the county’s staff to investigate it and initiate a review to be brought forth to the board.
County transportation development manager Phong Nguyen gave an update to the Coalition about the plan to relieve the congestion at the “choke points” at Marsh Landing and Mickler’s Landing along A1A.
The Marsh Landing project will be about $1.5 million and the Mickler Landing project is about $3.1 million.
“We have sufficient dollars and a design concept to make that happen,” Nguyen said.
According to Nguyen, both projects are scheduled to be underway within the next year.
There is also an additional traffic light scheduled to be placed at the intersection of Palm Valley Road and South Roscoe Boulevard.
The light will be put up due to safety reasons after data showed that there were some major crashes that occurred at the intersection.
