by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Road improvements, sewer implementations and new schools are a few of the changes planned for St. Johns County over the next several years.
Attorneys Karl Sanders of Edwards, Cohen, Sanders & Dawson and Mack McCuller of Smith Hulsey & Busey, who’s also a trustee with the Municipal Service District of Ponte Vedra Beach, spoke at the Ponte Vedra Council breakfast held at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra last month about changes coming to the area.
Sanders explained the proposed road changes that will come as a result of Nocatee, the huge development coming along the Intracoastal which includes both Duval and St. Johns county land.
He discussed the Nocatee Master Circulation Plan and the Proposed Off-Site Transportation Mitigation Plan.
“Nocatee is roughly 15,000 acres just west of the Intracoastal and it is expected to bring in some 35,000 new homeowners in the next 20-25 years,” said Sanders. “So it is going to dramatically change this area for better or for worse.”
Some of the proposed changes expected are to widen part of U.S. 1 to six lanes, widen CR 210 and Mickler Road to four lanes from the Palm Valley Bridge to A1A, widen CR 210 from U.S. 1 to I-95, create a new east-west parkway which will be six lanes, create a new four-lane CR 210 and create a new four-lane Racetrack Road extension.
“As part of this large master plan, one of the things that the county demanded is that there be certain transportation improvements,” said Sanders. “The most significant is the realignment of CR 210 west of Intracoastal. What’s going to happen is that CR 210 from the Palm Valley Bridge will be widened to four lanes and then it’s going to jag to the north a little and hook up with what is going to be the parkway, which will be a six-lane arterial that will take you up and over U.S. 1 over to Racetrack Road and eventually to SR 9B, which will connect north of I-295.
“So, from Ponte Vedra, we will be able to go over the new and improved Palm Valley Bridge and get on the 210 expressway and get to I-295 or I- 95 within a few minutes. This is exciting stuff.”
Sanders said the existing CR 210 will still exist but will serve as more of a local road than a connector.
The other thing Sanders discussed is the site selection for a new high school.
Currently, high school students and parents in Ponte Vedra have to drive 15 miles to get to Nease High.
“The Northeast High School Site Selection Committee was charged with the task of finding a site east of the Intracoastal for the new Ponte Vedra High School,” said Sanders.
After numerous meetings, they have narrowed it down to three potential sites for a new school: the TPC parking lot, the Guana River Wildlife Management Area and a 30-acre site behind the Talbot shopping center on A1A.
“Whether or not any of those three sites will work remains to be seen,” said Sanders.
The St. Johns County School District will have the final say in the decision.
McCuller spoke on the new sewer project planned for Ponte Vedra Beach. Currently, those affected are on a septic system.
“It will affect all the homes that are not currently being served by sewer on the east side of A1A from Corona Road to St. Johns County line (near where San Juan Drive and Ponte Vedra Boulevard meet). Two areas will be excluded and they are the Avenue C area across from the Target shopping center and residents that are on the ocean from the county line to the Ponte Vedra club.
All in all, 682 homes will affected. The project will cost about $7,000 for each home to create the new vacuum sewer system. Another $7,000 will be charged to connect the homes to the sewer system. It will cost homeowners in the area $592 a year over the next 20 years.
“This is important from a real estate standpoint because our homes have effectively been increased by $15,000,” said McCuller. “We were told that this will raise the value of our homes.”
According to McCuller, the construction will start in August and take about 18-24 months to complete and will cause various degrees of disruption to the roads.
“There was a drainage project also approved to go in at the same time to save cost in the Sea View Park area,” said McCuller.
McCuller acknowledged that the roads in Ponte Vedra Beach need improving, but that they are on hold until the sewer project is complete.