Mariposa plans 'go silently'

Mariposa plans 'go silently'



By MARCIA LANE
marcia.lane@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 02/27/08


The massive Mariposa development project on the St. Johns-Putnam county line apparently has fallen through, say county officials.

"It appears that (Ascot Development) is withdrawing its application, and then the Board of County Commissioners in Putnam County will rescind the comprehensive plan amendments. The land will stay what it currently is, and it will stay that in the future," St. Johns County Board of Commissioners Chairman Tom Manuel said Tuesday.

An e-mail was sent Tuesday afternoon to area officials from Frank E. Matthews with the Tallahassee law firm of Hopping Green & Sams, P.A., who said he was sending notice on behalf of Ascot that they would be "withdrawing from the pending matter."

That "pending matter" apparently refers to a scheduled administrative hearing with the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), which raised a number of issues about the project and comprehensive plan amendments made by Putnam County for the 2,025-acre development of regional impact.

An individual at Ascot Development's Boca Raton office referred questions to Ascot spokeswoman Joey Kelly. She did not immediately return the call. The project is no longer listed on their Web site.

The "nutshell translation" said Interlachen attorney Michael Woodward is "they're going to throw in the towel."

Woodward represents a landowner next to the property and the Putnam County Environmental Council, which filed as interveners along with DCA after it raised numerous questions about the project.

Others filing as interveners include Hastings, the Florida Wildlife Federation and St. Johns County.

Mariposa was to put in more than 3,200 new homes as well as 153,000 square feet of commercial and business space on property off Cracker Swamp Road. It was located in Putnam, but officials said the impact would be heavily felt in Hastings and St. Johns County.

Matthews also said in his e-mail that Putnam County would be "filing a notice of its intent to repeal the comprehensive land amendment which is the basis of the DCA petition."

Putnam County Administrator Rick Leary couldn't confirm or deny any of the plans, saying he had not seen the memo, which was sent to the county attorney. The commission was in session all day.

"A hearing was supposedly coming up for mid-March. I guess there was some evaluation as to how everybody was going to proceed from this point forward to the hearing," Leary said.

"We had done comprehensive plan amendments that would have enabled the project to move forward," Leary said. "I think it's the developers' decision to make whether they want to proceed with it or not."

Jerry Cameron, assistant St. Johns County manager, said the county's legal department had received Matthews' e-mail.

"From the tone of this, it looks like that's pretty much it unless the developer decides to try again," Cameron said.

"This really just verifies what we have suspected for a long time. It was my understanding this application would go silently into the night," Manuel said.


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