Metastatic growth reflects lack of planning

Letter: Growth: What planning ... ?
Growth: What planning …?

St. Augustine Reord
Posted: February 15, 2016 - 10:25pm | Updated: February 16, 2016 - 12:01am

By W.L. Smith
Growth: What planning ...?

Editor: Am I the only resident of St. Johns County who read the headlines in Sunday’s The Record which spelled out that our apparent mindless county commissioners, along with county planner, Teresa Bishop, have approved 22 major housing developments which will add more than 100,000 residents to county population?

But wait! There is undeniable and overlooked evidence that new roads, along with critically-needed added lanes on existing roads, have been put aside or forgotten by these sleeping county commissioners. Those roads should have been planned and built yesterday! Why not? Do you think traffic is bad now?

Wait until an additional 200,000 cars move on our roads. I’m ready to encourage a recall of these commissioners. How about you?

St. Johns

COMMENTS
sponger2 02/16/16 - 08:24 am 81Yes, I am ready to replace them.
But with what? They are all funded by the development community which also includes the real estate community, contractors, bankers, and and anyone who stands to make money feeding off the carcass of this once beautiful county. Just watch as fees and taxes increase, our lauded schools (which have an imaginary #1 in front of them) continue to become overwhelmed, sewage requirements exceed the means to treat it, water supplies diminish, farm land disappears, beaches continue to get packed with no off site parking, wooded areas and wildlife disappears, your personal rights erode, and the Commissioners (with the collective comprehensive capacity of a cherry stone clam) tell us how wonderful it all it. Watch from the sidelines as endless ghost, pirate, and toilet location trolley tours ferry tourists downtown to buy useless trinkets while you pay to park so you can get a $11 "Latte". Yep, that's what they signed us up for.

PASmith 02/16/16 - 10:28 pm 05Haw long have you lived here?
How long have you lived in St Johns County? Not long? YOU are part of the problem. Now, you don't want anyone else to move here!

martystaug 02/17/16 - 08:07 am 51Doesn't matter
If you moved into town to one of the older homes, you basically replaced someone else who left and thereby didn't add to the problem. Unless of course you are someone who wants everyone to do things the way they did "back home". If you build or purchase one of the thousands of tract homes in one of these new developments, then yes, you are adding to the problem. Most of us moved here and thought, ok, close the gates behind me. But when you have everyone from developers, city and county commissions, Tourist Development Councils and even word of mouth, all telling the world how wonderful it is here, growth is inevitable. But controlled growth is essential. If you purchase a home where there are no schools, no fire or police stations, fire hydrants, or infrastructure, that is your choice, and you are part of the problem. If you live on filled-in wetlands, or where otters used to live, you are part of the problem. If you are a commissioner or zoning employee who approved this unsupported growth, you are the problem.

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