I was proud to join the Shore Drive community in opposing this project at several meeting. Thanks to County Commission Chair Clay Murphy and Commissioners Krista Keating Joseph nnd Ann Taylor for their leadership. From Jacksonville Toda/WJCT:
Divisive Shore Drive project in St. Augustine is dead
The St. Johns County Commission has officially nixed plans to build a divisive walking path along Shore Drive.
The decision Tuesday came after years of planning and seeking funds for the 3-mile-long paved path along Shore Drive in St. Augustine South.
The project was estimated to cost $1.1 million, and the budgeted money will be reallocated to the construction of a park on the county’s south side named for two former county commissioners.
“This trail has to die, and it’s going to die today,” County Commissioner Clay Murphy said.
There is no sidewalk along Shore Drive, and the path was originally proposed to get pedestrians and cyclists out of the winding two-lane road.
Impassioned supporters and opponents spoke about the project during the County Commission meeting Tuesday.
Opponents worried that the 5-foot-wide asphalt path would damage the environment and drive up property values — and, by extension, taxes. Supporters wanted the county to build an alternative to walking in the road for individuals with mobility issues and kids.
Elected members of the commission sparred, some debunking misinformation spread about the project and others criticizing the project as out-of-control development.
But even after denouncing tactics he called “offensive and false and a bunch of crap,” Murphy, whose district includes St. Augustine South, said he still could not support the project.
County Commissioners Krista Joseph and Ann Taylor joined Murphy in the 3-2 vote to axe the project.
Joseph responded to concerns that some members of the St. Augustine South community expressed about the lack of a sidewalk in their neighborhood. She said it’s up to residents to be responsible for themselves.
“If you don’t want to live over there, and you don’t want your kids to not have sidewalks, don’t move there,” she said. “You have choices. I can’t sit there and tell people to be safe. I can’t help someone who wants to run down the middle of the road.”
A divided community
Since even before the project was first approved two years ago, tensions have run high between supporters and opponents of building the paved path.
Opponents in the St. Augustine South community recently conducted a straw poll at local events gauging support. Individuals who organized the poll told the County Commission that every voter was checked against a list of addresses in the community, and the final count was of 332 votes against the trail and 89 in support.
Speakers said the poll was an indication that the neighborhood resoundingly opposed the project, but opponents pointed out that the 421 votes represent only a fraction of St. Augustine South’s households.
According to data from St. Johns County, St. Augustine South is made up of 2,407 households.
In addition to holding a community meeting about the project last month, St. Johns County launched its own survey.
That survey found that 79% of respondents opposed the project. The survey, however, was anonymous, and individuals looking to vote more than once were able to cast votes from multiple devices.
Members of the County Commission also drew attention to a website created by members of the community arguing that the proposed path was part of a conspiracy to bring multifamily housing and more development to the neighborhood — something the county’s growth management director said he hasn’t heard any proposals for.
County Commissioner Christian Whitehurst chastised the members of the community behind sellingyouout.com saying that it is “full of lies.”
Before voting in favor of terminating the project, Commissioner Murphy agreed with Whitehurst.
“If we give in to stuff like this,” he said ahead of voting, “to these kinds of tactics, then we will never be independent commissioners ever again.”
The Shore Drive money now
With the Shore Drive sidewalk project gone, the St. Johns County Commission voted to move the funding to a project it has been looking to fund for some time — a park on 31 acres along the San Sebastian River in the southern part of the county.
The county has unsuccessfully sought funding from the Legislature to construct the park, which would include a boat launch, a walking trail and more.
During a presentation earlier in the meeting Tuesday, county leaders agreed to officially name the future park the Waldron Family Park, after former County Commissioners Harry and Paul Waldron. Both members of the Waldron family died in the past four years.
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