Candidates for the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners had an opportunity Tuesday, July 9, to persuade voters to either elect or re-elect them during a two-hour candidates’ forum at Christ Episcopal Church.
The nonpartisan event was conducted by the Palm Valley Community Association in collaboration with the Ponte Vedra Community Association.
Participating candidates were:
The candidates took turns answering questions largely drawn from members of the public. The forum started with the candidates listing their priorities.
Those cited by Evans included growth, government waste and preservation. Opponent Whitehurst listed infrastructure, environmental protection and enhancements to quality of life.
Alaimo mentioned managing growth and the county’s infrastructure, and keeping taxes low. Harley-Davidson cited overdevelopment. McDonald prioritized transparency and accountability, as well as support for neglected communities. Murphy mentioned growth, as well as its impact on traffic, the county’s infrastructure and fiscal responsibility.
Dean emphasized his continued involvement with environmental issues, particularly beach renourishment, and cited both growth management and support for law enforcement among his priorities. Taylor prioritized the need to slow growth and cited her opposition to tax increases; she also spoke of a need to preserve trees and reducing clear-cutting.
The candidates were asked how they wanted to address the county’s record population growth.
Harley-Davidson took a balanced position, calling for “sensible growth” while protecting the environment.
“My candidacy is about the environment — and the rights and the needs of the people,” she said.
McDonald also mentioned a need for better balance.
“I would just protect everybody’s property rights to the best of my ability and look at their project with an open mind … and try to deter as much wetland building as we can,” he said.
Citing uncertainty about the future, especially with regard to shifting political realities, Murphy endorsed reducing the projections listed in the county’s Comprehensive Plan to encompass only the next decade.
Dean said he will continue his practice of applying a two-pronged test to every construction project proposed by developers. He said each project must be compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods and must have either existing infrastructure or infrastructure that will be concurrent with the construction.
One of the challenges he mentioned was projects approved by prior boards.
“When I became a commissioner, there were already 100,000 units that were approved prior to 2008,” he said.
“When something new is coming in … we’ve got to think about existing property owners, as well,” Taylor said.
She said she was not opposed to all growth, but that the county needs to slow down its residential growth.
Evans said when inspecting the proposed Comprehensive Plan, she was shocked by a projection that the population would increase by 97%.
“It does not have to be that way,” she said. “It should not be that way. I’m passionate about this. It’s wrong. Our infrastructure can’t possibly catch up if we continue to build at the rate that we are.”
She voiced opposition to blanket approval for developer requests for rezoning and variances.
Whitehurst pointed out the county’s challenge in attempting to deny rezoning requests. He cited case law that restricts local governments from denying these requests without providing adequate rationale for the denial. Additionally, such a rezoning request is subject to judicial review.
Whitehurst went on to say he had voted against some development proposals and had insisted upon infrastructure prior to occupation by homeowners in a development.
Alaimo said he has also applied the two-prong test and has voted down “quite a bit of development” during his time on the board. He supported asking more from developers up front and holding them accountable.
Other questions addressed by the candidates involved public beach access, resiliency planning, public safety and economic growth.
