Suddenly there are some questions being raised about the San Juan Road sidewalk project and the funding surrounding it.
The Ponte Vedra Beach Municipal Service District recently completed a survey of 50 residences living along San Juan Drive that would be directly affected by the sidewalk project.
According to MSD chair Kitty Switkes, there were 53 properties in the area of the 300 block along San Juan Drive, as well as three houses, 401, 403 and 405 that are situated in a curve along the route.
Three of the houses had no one living in them currently, so 50 actual residencies received the survey and 49 responded.
The survey results found that 25 supported the sidewalk regardless on what side of the road it went on, while 11 opposed a sidewalk on either side, 11 supported a sidewalk on the west side of the road only and two that supported it on the east side only.
“We did what our County Commissioner (Krista Joseph) asked us to do, which was get responses from the residents that would be most affected by phase one of the project,” Switkes said. “Obviously through these numbers, the majority of the residents want the sidewalk.”
However, despite the survey results, there now seems to be concerns from the county officials that proper funds are available to pursue the project.
“In a conversation with our commissioner prior to the survey and today, there’s no money in the budget for next year for a sidewalk on San Juan Drive,” Switkes said. “Greg Caldwell, who is our public works director, doesn’t want to get into conflict with neighbors over a sidewalk, so they’re not really supporting it.”
This brought about confusion amongst the MSD board because Joseph had been to a prior MSD meeting and told them that if they could get resident support, the county would help pay a portion of the project’s cost.
“Krista stood right here in this room and said they would pay for it about a year ago, and so did Greg Caldwell,” trustee John Cellucci said.
According to the board, there is precedent of the county and MSD both chipping in to help fund sidewalk projects in the past.
There were questions by the board about the purpose of the survey if the county already had an idea that there would be no money available in the budget.
“My understanding is that she stood here and said she supported a sidewalk and that she would help fund that portion of the sidewalk, but then the project hit troubled waters with the opposition of a couple of individuals and so she wanted us to redo a survey for the 300 block,” trustee Mickey White said. “My perception, was that she would read that survey and either say this gives me a mandate to support your project or not support it.”
According to Switkes, Joseph still supports the idea of the project, but the funding is just not there.
The MSD has been putting money away in their budget to help pay for the project and they were doing this under the assumption that the county would assist in funding based off previous discussions.
“It’s their road and it’s about safety,” Cellucci said. “They should help build it, because they’ve already promised they would.”
The project is estimated to cost more than $2 million, and it would not be feasible for the MSD to pay for it solely by itself.
Switkes said that she will ask Joseph and Caldwell to attend the next MSD meeting on July 14 to discuss the situation further and talk about solutions.
The meeting will be held in the FOL room at the Ponte Vedra branch library and will be held at 5:30 p.m.
