The fight to develop an “agrihood” in St. Johns County isn’t over.
A special magistrate ruled the county unreasonably denied a rezoning request that would allow up to 3,332 homes west of Interstate 95, between County Road 208 and County Road 214.
In a report issued Aug. 19 under the Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act, Special Magistrate and former Circuit Court Judge J. Michael Traynor found the county’s 2024 denial of Robinson Improvement Co. LLC’s planned unit development application unfairly burdened the company’s property rights.
Robinson sought to rezone 2,673 acres from Open Rural to Planned Unit Development, consistent with the property’s Residential-B designation added to the county’s comprehensive plan in 2019.
Residential-B allows low-to-moderate density housing such as single-family homes, townhomes or duplexes, designed to transition between lower- and higher-density areas. The designation notes that a rezoning request was expected by the county in 2026.
The county planning and zoning agency unanimously recommended denial Oct. 7, and the full county commission upheld the denial Nov. 5.
Traynor concluded Robinson had a reasonable expectation of rezoning and that denial conflicted with long-range housing and infrastructure plans.
He recommended approving a revised PUD requiring County Road 2209 to be built before homes are occupied, capping units at 350 by 2031 with phased limits, creating large-lot buffers near neighbors, and setting aside land for a fire station, school and commercial use.
The recommendation is nonbinding but could influence whether the dispute heads to court. As of Aug. 26, no new filings have been made with Florida’s Seventh Circuit.
Robinson has owned the property, of which 1,666 acres are developable, since 1906. Boston-based Freehold Communities is the developer. Freehold describes agrihoods as “an organized community that integrates agriculture into a residential setting.”
The project was originally planned in two 10-year phases, with no certificates of occupancy before Jan. 1, 2028, and no more than 500 units occupied before Jan. 1, 2030. At 2.75 residents per unit, the development could house about 9,163 people.
The 2019 county amendment also included a right-of-way donation for County Road 2209, a north-south corridor intended to ease I-95 congestion. Robinson committed more than $49 million in transportation costs and to build a $61.5 million, 4-mile stretch of the road through the property, which it would give to the county along with stormwater ponds and buffers.
County staff and residents opposed the project, citing incompatibility with the site’s rural character, traffic concerns and doubts about Freehold’s track record, which includes Shearwater in St. Augustine, Arden in Palm Beach, and Saratoga Springs in Clay County. Robinson’s experts said the project met land development standards and included phased construction and mitigation.