On Sept. 13, the Ponte Vedra Corporation, a subsidiary of GATE Land, formally withdrew from the County Commission Transmittal hearing’s agenda. The Sept. 17 meeting would have decided whether to move forward with the company’s Comprehensive Plan Amendment application for the Outpost property.
The amendment was intended to change parts of the property from a conservation designation to a residential zoning intended for the development of a 66-home community, Vista Tranquila.
According to a letter from Ponte Vedra Corporation to the commission, the planned unit development will remain pending and within the time period specified in the Settlement Agreement between the corporation and county, the PVC may request the application be placed on a future agenda for public hearing and vote.
Additionally, the letter stated, “Since agreeing to the Settlement Agreement, unfortunately, recent discussions have implied that PVC is requesting to remove conservation protections from the property. PVC absolutely rejects this notion, as the company maintains that the proposed low-density residential use is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and that an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan is not required for the proposed development on its private property.”
The founders of Save Guana Now released a statement to their followers, informing them not to show up to protest at the Commission meeting.
The Save Guana Now organization made the following statement in an email:
“Evidently, Gate was not interested in an encore of the PZA hearing with our record-setting attendance and our experts whose arguments were so strong, Gate's attorney's best strategy was to campaign to slash their time. Gate's latest strategy is not a viable one; they can't rezone the Outpost without a comp plan change.”
As stated in the letter to the commission, however, GATE still intends to allow for a three-year hold on the property with the intent to allow for a private or public organization to buy it.
“Even though the Comprehensive Plan request has been withdrawn by Ponte Vedra Corporation and the hearing was cancelled, we're remaining vigilant because PVC now intends to seek rezoning without getting a Comp Plan amendment,” said co-founder of Save Guana Now, Nicole Crosby. “According to our attorney, this would be in violation of the Comp Plan. We continue to oppose the rezoning and the development of 66 homes on conservation land.”
