Pick up the lettuce in Duval County and the milk in St. Johns.
The checkout lanes could be in both.
Same store, different counties.
That’s because the county line runs through the center of the proposed new Nocatee West Publix.
St. Johns County and Jacksonville, which is consolidated in Duval County, are reviewing plans for the Nocatee West retail shopping center.
Plans show the shopping center is on 17.76 acres south of Nocatee Parkway, at Valley Ridge Boulevard and Burbank Avenue.
In Duval County, plans show 16,674 square feet of the 48,387-square-foot Publix, a Publix Liquors store, and two sets of retail shops totaling 15,400 square feet and four outparcels of 1 to 1.3 acres.
In St. Johns County, plans show the other 31,713 square feet of Publix as well as half of a 2.36-acre outparcel.
The property is owner is Sonoc Company LLC, part of the Davis family that has been developing the Nocatee residential and commercial area with The PARC Group.
Jacksonville-based England-Thims & Miller Inc. is the civil engineer.
Civil engineering plans state that the development portions within the city of Jacksonville and Duval County will be subject to Jacksonville permitting and approval.
St. Johns County is responsible for its part. The landowner asks the St. Johns County Growth Management Department for approval of the incremental master development plan map for the portions of the building and infrastructure within the county.
Harry Guetherman, commercial division chief with the Duval County Property Appraiser, said the Duval County Property Appraiser’s Office would be responsible for assessing all lands, building and site improvements located in the Duval County portion of the proposed retail development.
St. Johns County would do the same, “essentially rendering Publix with two allocated tax bills.”
As for planning, “there are discussions occurring with the City of Jacksonville and St. Johns County,” said St. Johns County Planning Division Manager Teresa Bishop.
Sales tax collection still must be determined.
“The discretionary sales surtax (local sales tax) a business collects will be distributed, less administrative costs, to the county where the business is located,” said Bethany Wester, communications director with the Florida Department of Revenue.
“For sales tax purposes, the Department of Revenue determines the county in which a business is located using the address the business provided at the time of registration and the Address Jurisdiction Database. The counties provide the information in the database,” she said.
The database is “Florida’s Tax and Address Lookup System.”
England-Thims & Miller planner Casey Dendor said addressing is determined with the civil plan submittal and she doesn’t believe it has been assigned an address yet.
The plans in review are labeled “Nocatee West Commercial Retail Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida,” indicating a St. Johns County location.
The store is identified as Publix in a St. Johns County application.
Lakeland-based Publix had no information to share.
Publix spokesperson Hannah Herring said Oct. 4 that she does not see a signed lease for the property.
“We are unable to make comment on sites without signed leases,” Herring said.
Publix already has a presence in Nocatee Town Center in the St. Johns County part of Nocatee.
It opened a full-line Publix at 120 Marketside Ave. and a GreenWise Market nearby at 250 Pine Lake Drive, both in Ponte Vedra Beach.
The new Publix is about 2 miles west.
