The $13 million sale of about 65 acres of St. Johns County land July 1 signals the advancement of a housing project off County Road 210.
Gate Petroleum Co. sold the property through Durbin Creek National LLC. The buyer was Mattamy Homes through Mattamy Jacksonville LLC.
The project, called Tidal 210, is a gated community of 297 town homes about a half-mile east of Interstate 95.
Prosser | Prime AE of Jacksonville is the civil engineer.
The St. Johns Board of County Commissioners rezoned the property in May from Commercial Highway Tourist to Planned Unit Development to allow the project to move forward.
Commissioners Sarah Arnold, Christian Whitehurst and Clay Murphy voted in favor with Krista Joseph and Ann Taylor voting against the proposal.
About a dozen area residents spoke against the rezoning at the meeting.
According to its application, the Tidal 210 community is “designed to provide a high-end, gated town home project in the northern part of St. Johns County, in an area where a hospital, medical offices, commercial/retail space, restaurants and offices already exist east of Interstate 95 and other businesses, including a Publix pharmaceutical production facility, will be located in the near future.”
On March 20, the county’s Planning and Zoning Agency split 3-3 over whether a rezoning should be allowed, with agency members Elvis Pierre, Greg Matovina and Henry Green voting yes. Members Judie Spiegel, Chuck Labanowski and Richard Hilsenbeck cast no votes.
Residents of nearby neighborhoods voiced concerns about the project, citing traffic as the primary issue.
“The Tidal 210 PUD would be more like a tidal wave without proper planning of the widening of County Road 210,” Sandy Creek Homeowners Association Secretary Jenny Evans wrote in an email to county Assistant Director of Growth Management Beverly Frazier.
The Sandy Creek subdivision is south of and adjacent to Tidal 210.
At a meeting with the developer, a county Transportation Planning representative said the money would be appropriated to add an eastbound lane on County Road 210 from I-95 to Moon Bay Parkway using the existing right-of-way.
“It is unlikely that an eastbound lane could be added without obtaining the property needed. 210 has gas pumps that are already too close to the existing road. At any rate, adding 297 homes will just exacerbate the existing traffic and safety problems,” Evans wrote.
Project attorney Ellen Avery-Smith told the PZA that under its former zoning, the developer could have, by right, moved forward with other projects that would add significantly more traffic than Tidal 210.
She said those projects could have included hotels, motels, restaurants with drive-thrus, service stations, charter schools, retail outlets and tourist-related businesses, along with banks and storage facilities.