Controversy is bubbling due to the recently proposed Gate station construction at 330 A1A North, The Shoppes of Ponte Vedra. Critics are saying the Ponte Vedra Architectural Review Committee and Ponte Vedra Zoning and Adjustment Board meeting was not properly advertised. In addition, the gas station will not be keeping with the requirements of the Ponte Vedra Overlay regulations in signage size, “destroying the aesthetic of the area,” according to a Change.org petition to reverse the decision granting a variance.
Almost 9,000 people have signed the website petition.
Cornelius Carroll, a Ponte Vedra Beach resident in opposition, said the PVARC meeting was “scheduled last minute” with “very little notice to the community for the week prior to Christmas.” Carroll also noted “only three of the five members of the ARC were present.”
Carroll added, “These variances will be used by nearby businesses and shopping centers to get bigger signs with more colors, bigger buildings, and less landscaping. Mark my words, if those decisions are not successfully opposed by the community, that stretch of A1A will look like Beach Boulevard five years ago and I believe property values will suffer as a result.”
According to Change.org, many residents have concerns with traffic issues as well. A few questioned if Ponte Vedra Beach had a “need” for more gas stations, citing the regular availability of pumps at those already built.
Currently the owners of the Shoppes of Ponte Vedra have filed an appeal to the board’s decision.
