Haughty, unscholarly "Interim County Attorney" RICH KOMANDO seemingly lacks self-respect and lacks respect for St. Johns County citizens. I heard him answer Commissioner' CHRISTIAN WHITEHURSTs question: the answer was unsophisticated baby talk for dummies, unadorned by any legal research memo. Typical County Attorney behavior here in DeSANTISTAN. It's time for RICH KOMANDO to go. We need a County Attorney with intelligence, integrity and ethics, one who does not emit cliches, who proposes creative solutions. The rote answer, "we could get sued" is no answer. reminds me of the former St. Augustine Beach Planning and Building Director, who said his major goal in life was "not to get sued." The technical term for this arrogant attitude is "regulatory capture." As if inspired by Commodore Vanderbilt, they say in GQP-speak, "Let the public be damned!" We can hire attorneys who are prepared to litigate cases against Wal-Mart and other oligopolists. Remember when 7-Eleven said it was entitled to build a store at May & San Marco? Under Mayor Nancy E. Shaver, we stood up to this Japanese oligopolist. We contacted our U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy. We did not let corporate lawyers push us around. Our City bought the property in quo, preventing further traffic discombobulation. Let us call an end to the "Can't Do" spirit of Dull Republican attorneys with no close about defending the public interest. It is up to us. What do y'all reckon? From First Coast News:
St. Johns County residents say World Golf Village roads 'can't take' more commercial build-up
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — News of a proposed Walmart Supercenter for an already busy part of St. Johns County had people emailing county commissioners with concerns.
Now there's word that even more commercial development - approved more than 20 years ago - could be constructed in that same area.
A Walmart Supercenter is proposed for International Golf Parkway about two miles west of Buc-ee's and I-95, and close to Tocoi Creek High School.
"They’re just building so much," Michael Mariani said. "There’s more traffic. Schools are getting tighter."
Mariani moved to St. Johns County seven years ago. In that short amount of time, he has seen the World Golf Village area explode with residential and commercial development.
Regarding the potential Walmart Supercenter in the area, he said, "There’s one seven miles away. I don’t know why. Seven miles is not a long drive."
Then came word during Tuesday’s county commission meeting that a Walmart Supercenter is just the beginning for the land at the intersection of International Golf Parkway and St. Johns Parkway. The land was approved in 2003 for even more commercial development.
St. Johns County Growth Manager Mike Roberson said the potential Walmart Supercenter would account for 180,000 square feet, and the developer is still entitled to another 290,000 square feet of more commercial space at that intersection.
Mariani shook his head at that news.
"OK, we don’t need that, no," said Susan Fischer, who lives in Palm Coast and was in St. Johns County Wednesday. "We need to get rid of the big businesses and bring small businesses in. We have enough traffic over here already."
During Tuesday's county commission meeting, Commissioner Christian Whitehurst said, "We've gotten a lot of emails and phone calls saying, 'Why cant you stop this? We understand it was approved in 2003, but we want you to stop it anyway. Traffic is too bad. Sure there’s extenuating circumstances.'"
Whitehurst asked the county attorney, Rich Komando, for a legal perspective.
Komando replied, "If the board made a decision legally to try to stop it, it would expose the county to significant liability to costs that occurred and planning that occurred up to this point." He said it could also result in lawsuits.
"The entitlements that are already given are property rights of the owner. At this point, to try to change that, I don’t believe that you can," Komando added.
However, many residents, such as Mariani, question if the county needs more commercial space and if the roads are sufficient for the growth.
"At some point can we slow it down a little bit? Just please. Because the roads can’t take it," Mariani said.
The Walmart Supercenter is still in the application phase. It has not been approved yet.
Roberson said the county staff and Walmart could try to work together to build out the roads at the same time.
"We want to align those at the same time because you want efficiency there," Roberson explained. "You don't want the county to build the road and then potentially have Walmart come in and dig up the road." He added, "there could be some synergy there if they came at the same time. That's what we're looking for."
1 comment:
They've attempted to make another city in St John's County instead of finish the one that's already here. In the future, St Augustine will be poor town with all the rich right wingers elsewhere. The hogs wreck areas and leave. Rinse and repeat.
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