Following the wake of another hurricane season, the conversation about Ponte Vedra Beach restoration is back on the agenda.
This time the question involves equity.
The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners considered FY 2020 Tentative Millage Rates and Budget during a public hearing Sept. 12. The board brought up the question of leveraging money for the Ponte Vedra Beach renourishment feasibility study rather than implementing the Municipal Service Taxing Unit for fiscal year 2020. While the MSTU was established in order to tax residences located within North Ponte Vedra’s renourishment zone, current beach renourishment projects for Vilano, South Ponte Vedra and St. Augustine did not require such a tax.
In a motion prompted by Commissioner Blocker, the board decided against adopting the 0.6 millage assigned to the MSTU for FY 2020, which would have gone into effect Oct. 1. The motion was approved 4-1, with District 1 Commissioner James Johns dissenting.
According to public works director, Neil Shinkre, the county has received a grant of matched funds from the state, leaving a remaining $700,000 of funding needed for the intermediate phase of the North Ponte Vedra project.
“My concern is I think this is an equity issue,” Blocker said. “We have other parts of the county, specifically South Vilano beach restoration effort. We did not require those residents to pay the initial feasibility studies, but we are requiring that for Ponte Vedra. Frankly, I would ask the administration and the board to look at this. I think the county needs to find a way to absorb that remaining $700,000.”
Public concern regarding Ponte Vedra’s beaches has reached a tipping point, with many residents at the meeting asking the board why the project wasn’t commenced sooner. For those living on the coast, the dune line has been pushed back 30 to 40 feet post hurricane Matthew, reaching what is considered a critical condition.
According to District 5 Commissioner, Henry Dean, the beach’s issue wasn’t on the board’s radar until after the hurricane’s damage severely eroded it.
“This county has worked hard for the past 12 years on St. Augustine Beach and for the last three years on South Ponte Vedra and Vilano Beach,” Dean said. “We’ve done little or nothing for Ponte Vedra Beach. That’s a fact… .I don’t think we went out of our way as a commission over the last five or 15 years to ignore this problem. I don’t think it was a serious problem until after Matthew and Irma. Then, it became a critical problem. We are trying to do something about it, and we are committed to that.”
